SWITZERLAND. REPORT BY CONSUL ADAMS, OF HORGEN. ROADWAYS OF SWITZERLAND. In any country the oldest artificial roadways are more recent than the original routes of migration, travel, and commerce. There is evidence of active intercourse along such natural routes between the primitive communities of Switzerland, Italy, and France for many centuries before the Christian era. What is now Lombardy was connected with eastern Switzerland by the Julier, Septimer, Splügen, and Bernadino passes, Piedmont with western Switzerland by the Grand St. Bernard, and the lake of Geneva with the Phoenician colony of Marseilles by a route following the Rhône Valley. This last line and the Grand St. Bernard were joined by another running from the neighborhood of Lyons over the Little St. Bernard to Aosta. All these routes differed from the local pathways leading from one camping ground or hamlet to another only as they were more frequented and therefore better trodden. The modern roadways of Switzerland, and of Europe generally, originated with the Roman engineers in the last century before Christ. Constructed in the first instance for the march of armies and the postal service of the empire, they were promptly occupied by the tributary commerce which poured into Italy with augmented volume as the dimensions of the empire increased. When the northern frontier was finally established along the line of the Danube and the Rhine, the Swiss roads acquired at once the character of transcontinental and international routes which they have retained ever since. Before the end of the third century two great systems of elaborately constructed highways connected northern Italy, across Swiss territory, with Gaul and Germany. In the west the Grand St. Bernard led from Aosta to Martigny, on the upper Rhône, where it was joined by the Simplon coming from Lago Maggiore; from Martigny the route was prolonged to Vevey, Soleure, and Augst, near Bâle, whence it descended the Rhine northwards into Germany. This great line sent off two lateral spurs into Gaul, one by Geneva and the lower Rhône Valley, the other by Poutarlier to Besacnon. In the east parallel routes led from the Italian lakes and Milan over the Splügen, Septimer, and Julier to Chur and the lake of Constance. The two systems were connected in the north by running from the upper Rhine and Lake Constance to Soleure and Bâle. These main lines threw out local branches to all the important towns and military stations of the country. In the breaking up of society which followed the invasion of the barbarians and the fall of the Empire, the Roman roads, although in continued use, fell out of repair and finally into ruin; nor was any serious attempt made to restore or replace them until the modern communities of Europe were definitely constituted and brought into sustained intercourse with one another. As the geographical center of the continent, Switzerland was one of the first countries to profit by the revival of the European movement. A new route was carried over the St. Gotthard in the twelfth century; the other passes into Italy, especially those diverging from Chur, on the headwaters of the Rhine, recovered something of their ancient importance; and the Julier in particular was improved to accommodate the oriental traffic which flowed through Venice until the discovery of the ocean passage by the Cape of Good Hope; much, too, was done to facilitate local communications between different parts of the country. But with all this activity and improvement the Swiss roadways remained everywhere in bad condition down to the end of the last century. Partly from faults of construction, partly from subsequent neglect, most of them were footpaths for pedestrians and pack-horses, and the best only admitted the passage of small vehicles solidly built and lightly loaded. To this are to be added the burdensome tolls and taxes in great variety exacted by the local communities, the last of which were suppressed by the federal government in 1848. In singular contrast with the immense development of architectural engineering throughout Europe during and since the Middle Ages, the Swiss roads are practically the creation of the nineteenth cen. tury. The first great construction of the new era was the Simplon, begun in 1800 by the Emperor Napoleon and finished in 1804. The Simplon was followed by the Bernadino (1818-1821), the Splügen (1818–1823), the Julier (1820–1826), the Maloja (1827-1828), the St. Gotthard (1820–1830), the Farka, Oberalp, Albula, Flüela, Bernina, Offenberg, Lukmanier (finished 1876), and the Brünig. These great mountain roads, with the highways following the water-courses or traversing the lowlands, form the skelton of the system to which all the lesser local roads are attached. The system reached its full development between 1870 and 1880; for the last 20 years the energies of the country have gone mostly to the extension of railways. Isubjoin a table giving the general statistics of the principal roadways for 1877, since when no important additions have been made to the literature of the subject. (Annex I.) The Swiss roadways are almost entirely in the control of the several canton, and, under the cantion, of the several districts and townships. The federal government has declared all roads free for public use. It exercises a general supervision over post-roads, and, I believe, grants subsidies for the maintenance of such roads as have the character of international routes. But the building, the repair, and the police regulation of roads are in general left exclusively to the cantonal and local authorities. Yet the system is practically uniform throughout Switzerland, notwithstanding extraordinary differences in race, language, character, and usages between different parts of the population. This concordant action where great variety might be looked for, and long existed, is due to a fact without which this historical recapitulation would lose much of its pertinence. The Swiss roadways of the nine- The Roman roadway, wherever necessary, had a carefully laid foundation of undressed stones, which was slightly convex or vaulted, and held by longitudinal borders of square stones, the whole forming a coherent and solid structure. The size of the stones so employed varied greatly in different localities according to the material available. In the great roadway of the western system traversing the lowlands between Avenches and Solothern, the foundation consisted of rolled and rounded stones, averaging 10.15 centimetres in diameter (see Annex II). On the south slope of the Septimer in the high Alps, the foundation was a compact masonry of angular stones from 0.60 to 1.50 metres in longitudinal diameter, carefully fitted together and held firmly by the pressure of the border blocks (see profile and ground-plan Annex III). On the stone foundation was spread a layer of gravel, usually mixed with argillacious sand as a binding material, and thoroughly stamped down as in our macadamized roads. This furnished a firm and smooth surface which shed the water and kept the whole structure dry (see profile Annex II). In lighter roads the gravel sometimes lay between two layers of common earth (profile Annex IV). In the Swiss roadways the depth of the structure varied from 0.70 to 1.30 metres; the surface width from 2 to 3.50 metres. The surface was sufficiently elevated to shed water, and even along mountain slopes the road-bed was let into the soil only on the upper side and only to the depth required by the conformation of the ground. The route kept, when possible, to the sunny sides of mountains, adapted itself closely to the natural curvesof the surface, and avoided all avoidable cuttings, causeways, and bridging of gorges. It is upon these principles that routes, both of roads and railways, are laid out to day. The identity of structure in the Roman and the modern Swiss roadways may be seen at a glance by comparing the Roman profiles with two others subjoined, taken from roads of the second and third classes in the canton of Bern (Annexes V, VI). The modern roadway is less solidly built, has a greater breadth (varying from 7.50 metres or more in roads of the first class to 4 metres or less in roads of the third class, and pays more attention to the lateral accessories for consolidating the adjacent soil and carrying off water. But the internal system of construction is the same in both. Now the characteristic and essential feature of this system is the substructure of stone. It is never omitted in either the ancient or the modern roads, except where the natural foundation of the bed offers a sufficient substitute, as when the roadway is excavated in solid rock. Ohne unterbau keine strasse (without an adequate foundation there is no durable road). No matter on what system or with what care and ex pense the surface is treated; the result will be swift ruin unless the superstructure is properly supported from beneath. On the other hand, given the foundation, the surface may be treated effectively almost anywhere and adapted to any use; it may be formed of common soil if nothing better is available, or of gravel, or of both; it may be macademized or covered with any variety of pavement. The worst surface with a good foundation affords a better road than the costliest surface without a foundation. This is probably the most important lesson to be got from European experience in road-building. It follows that in all mountain regions and iu all lowlands which have been supplied by glacial action or the flow of water courses, with stones in abundance, good roadways are merely a question of time, money, and intelligence; any community may have them to the extent required if willing to pay for them. But for alluvial or deluvial soils, destitute of stones and gravel, as on the western prairies and in the valley of the Mississippi, the case is different, and little is to be learned from European methods of road building. The problem is surrounded by local difficulties which can only be solved on the spot, if at all. To cover the inquiry submitted by the Department's circular of November 8, I will add, in conclusion, that in Switzerland city and suburban streets are only local adaptations of the ordinary roadway. Provision is made beneath the roadbed for drainage and the distribution of water and gas, and the surface, including the trottoir, is macadamized or paved in a variety of ways; but these are all external to the central structure, which is unchanged. For further details I refer to the report of the agent at Lucerne, with accompanying sections of streets and quays of the city. Length and cost of the principal roadways of Switzerland in 1877. Length of roads of all classes per 1,000 inhabitants. Length of roads of all classes per sq. kilometre of area.. sq. kilometres.. ..do.... 323 5, 003 Cost of construction of roads, Class I francs.. 173, 498, 400 Cost of construction of roads, Class 1, per sq. kilometre.. |