Highways and Highway Transportation by George R. Chatburn

PLANNING HIGHWAY SYSTEMS: SELECTION OF ROAD TYPES A road is a strip of land set apart or appropriated for travel, public or private. When a road has been dedicated to the public or has been used so long that the public has a legal right of easement therein, it becomes a highway.[173] The object of a road is to provide a way for transportation. It goes without saying, therefore, that its situation should be such that it can perform this function most efficiently, and a system of highways should perform the same function for the public in the same manner. Efficiency here includes the ideas of economy and satisfaction combined. In order to make a layout of a system of highways they should first be classified as to use, for the proper treatment will depend upon the use to which the roads are to be put. Anyone attempting a layout will make his own classification suitable to the inherent conditions pertaining to the district covered. The classification of Mr. T. H. MacDonald, Director of the Bureau of Public Roads, U. S. Department of Agriculture, made for another purpose may be adopted:[174]