Work of Maintenance Broken-Stone Road

383. The mud is usually removed from broken-stone roads in the cities, but not from rural highways. In those localities where the soil is sticky, as for example in the prairie regions of Illinois and Iowa, keeping the crushed stone free from mud is a serious problem, particularly if most of the side roads are unpaved. Fur ther, certain somewhat unscientific attempts at road building in such localities seem to show that serious difficulties may be en countered by the road surface's being picked to pieces by the adhesion of the mud. It is a serious question whether broken-stone roads can be built in such localities with sufficient binding power to resist the adhesive action of the mud.

Drainage.

At any season of the year anything that im pedes the free discharge of the rain water from the surface should receive careful attention. Water lodging in a depression should not be drained off by a trench to the side of the roadway, but the hole should be filled up (§ 378); and the gutters should be kept free from mud and rubbish. In the fall, all weeds and grass in the ditches should be cut and removed, and the culverts and outlets should he left free and open. All ditches and culverts should be inspect 41 in advance of the spring rains; and in northern localities where snow lies for considerable time, the outlets of all water courses should be opened before the spring thaw sets in.

Patching.

If the road is maintained in good repair, there will be no deep holes or ruts, but only shallow depressions or slack places which show where fresh material should be applied. These depres-ions are deepest at the center and gradually grow shallower toward the edges. Care is required in determining the size and shape of the patches of stone to be spread in these hollows. In .experienced workmen are inclined to lay stones in rectangular patches, with more regard to the neat appearance of the newly spread stone than to the needs of the road, and thus parts of round or oval-shaped hollows are left uncovered, or stone is spread where it is not required. The angles of a square patch are very liable to be knocked away; and even if the stones are not wasted in this way, they do not set as quickly as if laid in a round form. If the ends of a patch be made in the form of an oval, more or less pointed, the traffic will gradually work over it from the sides; and on a hill the water will be diverted towards the sides of the road instead of running into the stone, as it does with a square-ended patch.

Care should be taken to cover the whole surface of the depression so as to leave no place where water may lodge; and the depression should be filled full enough so that after consolidation of the sur face, the patch will conform to the original cross section of the road. If the hole is not filled full enough, it will soon appear again in the same place; and if it is filled too full, other depressions will form on each side of the patch.

If from neglect or bad management, long ruts or large hollows have been allowed to form, they should be repaired in short lengths and one part at a time. Horses avoid long strips of stones laid in a hollow worn by wheels, and soon make another rut alongside. Laying a long strip of materials on the middle of the road diverts the traffic to the sides, which are sure to suffer a good deal and may be entirely cut up before the stones in the middle are compacted. To avoid retarding the travel and increasing the draft too much, a new coat should not be put on any continuous space larger than 5 or 6 square yards. If several depressions are found very near each other, fill the worst and attend to the next after the first has become solid.

The stone employed in patching should be a little smaller than that of which the road was originally constructed; and should never be applied in a thick coat. A layer one-stone thick after consolida tion is enough; and if the stones are sufficiently close to support each other, such a course will bond well. If one such coat is not enough, a second may be added when the first is nearly consolidated.

Ordinarily, in applying patches in thin coats over small areas it is unnecessary to use binding material, since the road usually has enough detritus to fill the interstices of the new stone. If laid in damp weather, when the surface of the road is soft, there is usually no difficulty in getting a layer one stone thick to consoli date without any binding material. If the surface is very compact, or if the new stone is very hard, it may be wise to loosen the old surface around the edge of the patch with a pick, and also to scrape the detritus from the surface of the road and apply it to the edge of the patch. In extreme cases, it may be necessary to add a binding material. Screenings, or sand with considerable clay will greatly facilitate binding; and after the traffic has forced the surplus clay to the surface, it can be scraped off. Such a patch will finally become firm and hard.