This selection provides a praiseworthy assessment of the state and maintenance of roads in France during the late 19th century. The observation is that while conditions that acted on roads in France and the United States were not entirely identical, the United States might carefully observe the detail that French officials take regarding the cost, construction techniques, and preservation of the nation’s road network.
The French road system of to-day, says the New York Sun, was founded by the first Napoleon and finished by the third. During the last dozen years no important new roads have been opened, and few roads of any kind, the work now required being to keep up with the network already laid out. This splendid system of highways has raised the value of lands and contributed to the national wealth by putting peasant proprietors in easy communication with their markets.
Typical French roads of the highest class are those in the Departments of the Loire and the Isere. In the Isere are perpetually snow-clad Alps, 11,000 feet high, and furious glacial torrents descend upon the roads now and then. Commercial Agent Loomis, of St. Etienne, says he has seen, after a summer rain of thirty-six hours, fifty yards of national road, including a small bridge, washed away by a torrent from a cloud-capped ice field, with an almost vertical fall of 2,000 feet, and yet has found the road repaired and made passable within three hours by the road men in that remote region.
Thorough construction, vigilant watching, and prompt repair are the secrets of French success with roads. They are of three kinds, national, department, and township. The general rule in rural districts is to sacrifice the straight line in order to follow the valleys as much as possible, rising by gentle grades where this is required. Side-drainage is provided for, and the road, of course, is highest in the middle, the sides sloping transversely about an inch to the yard.
Macadamizing is the rule of construction____
.. .For nearly half a century the French engineers have generally used, on roadways built for heavy traffic, basaltic rock, where it can be had nearby It cost about $1,500 for the amount used on a mile of road, and Mr. Loomis says that it is not only far better, but about 30 per cent cheaper than the crushed granite formerly so much employed.
The cost of constructing a paved roadway Mr. Loomis puts at $2.35 per square meter, with 8 cents cost per year for repair, or, on a macadamized road, from 5 to 10 cents. Keeping in mind that a kilometer is six-tenths of a mile, we learn that the average cost of building a road per kilometer is $6,600, the valley roads costing about $4,000, and those in the mountains $9,000. The annual cost of repair is $4.40 per kilometer, while that of street paving per square meter is $2.43. These small estimates for the roads are largely due to the cheapness of labor in France, an ordinary workman getting 58 cents a day; a man and horse costing $1.55; a foreman, $30 per month; a supervisor, $600 per year; an engineer, $1,000, and a head engineer $2,000.
Durability, evenness and cleanliness are the attributes which General Knowles, of Bordeaux ascribes to the French roads of his district. ‘‘They are swept and watered every day, and kept in excellent order. No rugged eminences or depressions jar the nerves of the traveler riding over them. Neither dirt, decay, nor rubbish is visible to suggest neglect or bad care____’’
.. .When money is appropriated for a road-building contract, one per cent is retained as a fund for the widows and orphans of those who are fatally injured while working on the roadways.
It is only fair to note that the superiority of the French, to our own roads, is largely due to the trifling damage caused by frost in France compared with that which almost destroys our roads every year____
Consul Trail, of Marseilles, says the annual cost of maintaining roads outside of the city in the Department of Bouches de Rhone, which is almost the size of Delaware, is $456,000 ...
.. .The paving of Paris is, of course, better known here than that of the French country roads, in its variation of stone, wood, asphalt, and gravel...
The general conclusion is that the administration and engineering skill, characteristic of France in other matters is shown also in her system of road construction, which is not less remarkable for the excellence of its original construction that for its methods of prompt and thorough repair, which are especially worthy of imitation in America.
Manufacturer and Builder (Vol. 25, No.
Source: ‘‘French Road Building, 11, November 1893), 244-245.
World History
