Page:Remarks on the Present System of Road Making (1823).djvu/57

 "1st. That the present bad condition of the roads of the kingdom is owing to the injudicious application of the materials with which they are repaired, and to the defective form of the roads."

"2nd. That the introduction of a better system of making the surface of roads, and the application of scientific principles, which has hitherto never been thought of, would remedy the evil."

"In illustration of these positions, I beg to observe, that the object to be attained in a good road, as far as regards the surface, is to have it smooth, solid, and so flat as that a carriage may stand upright; these objects are not attained by the present system, because no scientific principles are applied; but it is presumed they are perfectly attainable in all parts of the country."

"Stone is to be procured in some form in almost every part of the kingdom, and a road made of small broken stone to the depth of ten inches, will be smooth, solid and durable."

"The materials of which the present roads are composed, are not worn out; but are displaced by the action of the wheels of carriages upon stones of too large a size: the wheel does not pass over the materials of