. A manual of the principles and practice of road-making : comprising the location, consruction, and improvement of roads (common, macadam, paved, plank, etc.) and railroads . 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 car
. A manual of the principles and practice of road-making : comprising the location, consruction, and improvement of roads (common, macadam, paved, plank, etc.) and railroads . 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 policy, 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 sufficiently improved, itmay not attract the expected amount of travel. A pru-dent compromise must therefore be made between theseopposing interests 254 IMPROVEMENT OF THE 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, or of concrete, so shaped as to
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, booksubjectrailroa, bookyear1853
