Copyright 1912
By Southern Good Hoads Publishing Co.
Lexington, N. C., April, 1912
Entered at Lexington Post Office ae
second class matter
Highways of North Carolina
By DR. JOSEPH HYDE PRATT, State Geologist, Chapel Hill, N. C.
'T'lIERK is perhaps no state in tin- I'niim that lias as
-L varied conditions to contend with in highway con¬
struction as North Carolina. Extending fr tin the coast
westward for a distance of over dlJO miles, it embraces
within its borders all variations in topography from
the low lands of the Coastal Plain
Region ; the rolling section of the
Piedmont Plateau Region, t >
the steep mountain ranges of the
western part of the state. There
is also a wide variation in the
climate and in the geological
formations. These conditions
make the highway problem more
complex and make it necessary
to use various materials for sur¬
facing the roads: thus there are
macadam, gravel, sand-clay, and
dirt roads, depending on the location of the road.
Cive years ago there were hardly two counties in the
state that were connected with each other by good
roads, although many counties wore committed to good
road construction. Formerly, it was the idea that it
was not advisable For a county to extend its good road
to the county line for fear some of its trade might go
over to the adjoining county and that that county
might derive some benefit from the other county's good
roads.
Fortunately this attitude has entirely changed in
nearly all the counties and n nv one hears on all sides
discussions regarding the construction of inter-county
roads, connecting county scat with county seat and
mountains with the sea; and of interstate raids. The
good roads movement has spread all over North Caro¬
lina. and there is now no subject paramount in the
state to that of “Good Roads.”
One important result of the educational work and
engineering assistance that has been carried on by the
North Carolina Geological and Economic Survey and
the North Carolina Good Roads Association has been
that the people of the state are now fully alive to the
value ami need of intercouuty and interstate highways
Such highways are being surveyed and located which,
when constructed, will connect the seaeoast with the
mountains; will connect North Carolina with Virginia
on the north: with South Carolina and Georgia on the
south: ami with Tennessee on the west. These through
highways are to he made in first class condition and
surfaced with some material, as macadam, sand-day or
gravel which will insure their being in good condition
throughout the whole year, regardless of the weather
North Carolina is essentially an agricultural state and
has but few centers of accumulated wealth fr nil which
she can derive a large income for road work, and must
depend largely on (lie rural communities for raid con¬
st ruction. This makes the road problem somewhat
more difficult, hut nature has come to our assistance in
providing very abundantly material suitable for sur¬
facing a mad. and that is sand and day. Experiments
have shown that the sand-clay road when properly con¬
strue! ed gives almost perfect satisfaction: and when
kept in perfect condition the cost of hauling a ton per
mile is only eight cents, which is tile same as the cost
of hauling lh<‘ same load over the best macadam, and
will withstand the traffic of wagons and automobiles
fully as well as the macadam, blit has t > he worked on
a little more constantly than the macadam. In eastern
North Carolina where rock is extremely rare, the sand-
dav road is becoming the universal good road; and its
cost in this section is about one-fifth to one-sixth of the
macadam. As we approach the center of the state, we
liiul more macadam and gravel roads, and in the west-
central and western part of the state a still larger per¬
centage of macadam roads. Experiments have shown,
however, that the sand-clay road can he constructed
and maintained in central and western North Carolina