. A manual of the principles and practice of road-making: comprising the location, consruction, and improvement of roads (common, macadam, paved, plank, etc.) and rail-roads . themselves the largest possible amountof tolls in return for the smallest possible two interests conflict. The steep ascents, so in-jurious to the travelling public, as shown on pp. 231-3,are advantageous to the company who plank the road,since they prevent large loads being carried, and thusproduce a twofold gain—the amount of tolls being pro-portioned to the number of the loads, and not (as theyshould
. A manual of the principles and practice of road-making: comprising the location, consruction, and improvement of roads (common, macadam, paved, plank, etc.) and rail-roads . themselves the largest possible amountof tolls in return for the smallest possible two interests conflict. The steep ascents, so in-jurious to the travelling public, as shown on pp. 231-3,are advantageous to the company who plank the road,since they prevent large loads being carried, and thusproduce a twofold gain—the amount of tolls being pro-portioned to the number of the loads, and not (as theyshould be) to their weight; and the carriage of such ex-cessive ones as would break defective plank being thusprevented. The engineer of the company must thereforesacrifice the absolute perfection of his road to this requisi-tion of pohcy, and may leave steep ascents untouched, thussaving the first cost of cutting them down, as well as in-creasing the subsequent receipts. But, on the other hand,if the grades of the road be not sufliciently improved, itmay not attract the expected amount of travel. A pru-dent compromise must therefore be made between theseopposing interests. 254 IMPROVEMENT OF THE SURFACE. WOODEN PAVEMENTS. Pavements formed of wooden blocks,usually hexagonal in shape, possessmany advantages. They cause littleresistance to draught; are almost en-tirely free from noise ; are easilykept clean ; are easy to a horses hoof;lessen very much the wear and tearof vehicles; are pleasant to travel-lers ; admit of great speed, and are cheaper in their firstcost than granite blocks. To counterbalance these recommendations, they areslippery and therefore dangerous in wet weather ; and arevery perishable, both from wear and from decay. Theslipperiness has been obviated by grooving and striatingtheir surface, but this lessens their ease of draught andnoiselessness, and increases their cost.* The rapidity oftheir wear may be lessened by setting them on a founda-tion of broken stone, o
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, booksubjectrailroa, bookyear1853
