the water may not lie upon the road.

The great benefits are _the sun_ and the _wind:_ the surveyor should use
every method for the admission of these friendly aids, that they may
dispel the moisture which cannot run off.

For this purpose, all public roads ought to be sixty feet wide; all
trees and hedges within thirty feet of the centre, be under the
controul of the commissioners, with full liberty of drawing off the
water in what manner they judge necessary.

The Romans were the most accomplished masters we know of in this useful
art; yet even they seem to have forgot the under drain, for it is
evident at this day, where their road runs along the declivity of a
hill, the water dams up, flows over, and injures the road.

Care should be taken, in properly forming a road at first, otherwise you
may botch it for a whole century, and at the end of that long period, it
will be only a botch itself.

A wide road will put the innocent traveller out of fear of the
waggoners; not the most civilized of the human race.

From Birmingham, as from a grand centre, issues twelve roads, that point
to as many towns; some of these, within memory, have scarcely been
passable; all are mended, but though much is done, more is wanted. In an
upland country, like that about Birmingham, where there is no river of
size, and where the heads only of the streams show themselves: the
stranger would be surprised to hear, that through most of these twelve
roads he cannot travel in a flood with safety. For want of causeways