Another mode of building a rural road cheaply and still have room for passing without getting off the stone construction is to make the roadbed proper about ten feet wide, ten or twelve inches deep; then have wings of macadam on each side three feet wide and five or six inches deep. In case ten feet is used the two wings would make the stone construction six feet wide. If the road is made considerably higher in the center than the sides, as it should be, the travel, particularly the loaded teams, will keep in the center, and the wings will only be used in passing and should last as long as the thicker part of the road.
The preparation of the road and making it suitable for the stone bed is one of the most important parts of road construction. This, once done properly, is permanent. Wherever it is possible the hills should be cut and low places filled, so that the maximum grade will not exceed five or six feet rise in one hundred feet; where hills cannot be reduced to this grade without incurring too much expense, the hill, if possible, should be avoided by relaying the road in another place.
Wherever stone roads have been constructed it has been found that those using them for drawing heavy loads will increase the capacity of their wagons so as to carry three or four times the load formerly carried. This can easily be done where the road has a maximum grade of not greater than five or six per cent, as before stated; but when the grade is greater than this the power to be expended on such loads upon such grades will exhaust and wear out the horses; thus a supposed saving in heavy loading may prove to be a loss.
In the preparation of the road it is necessary to have the ditches wide and deep enough to carry all the water to the nearest natural water way. These ditches should at all times be kept clear of weeds and trash, so that the water will not be retained in pools. Bad roads often occur because this important matter is overlooked.
On hills the slope or side grade in construction from center of road to side ditches should be increased so as to exceed that of the longitudinal grade; that is, if the latter is, say, five per cent, the slope to side should be at least six per cent and over.