Abstract
THE PRESENT. A GREAT improvement took place when Macadam and Telford brought the results of their study and their inventive powers to bear, giving a road well laid below and a crust of small angular stones, which when pressed down close produced an infinitely better road than had been known before. But it must be admitted that while they provided better materials for a good highway, their mode of completing it entailed upon the road user and his horse and vehicle a great deal of unpleasant road-making work, involving much temporary discomfort, and much wear and tear to animal and carriage. The road user had to apply his vehicle to roller work, to force the stones into a closely packed surface. When completed it was a good road for the traffic of the day, but oh! it was trying work when the road user's vehicle not only conveyed his passengers or his goods, but was compelled to act the part of a road roller.
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The Road: Past, Present and Future 1 . Nature 89, 127–129 (1912). https://doi.org/10.1038/089127a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/089127a0