The evening light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1881-1883, 1882-03-28
Wood PaVenents

Ceuar, mesquite or kleOSOleu pine. Our pO-
sition was attacked through both the Times
and Express. The Express, in particular, de-
clared the dirt road known as Commerce
street, one of the best in the country and that
paper finally secured the services of Col
Blanton Duncan, that eminent coast surveyor
and astrologer, to write us down.
The truth is, recent observations and prac-
teal experiments by the best engineers in the
land has thrown a flood of light upon
the pavement question, and now both
the Times and Express are daily furnishing ar
gum-nts to back the original position taken by
| the LIGHT, that macadam roads were only fit
for country roads or for park drives, and en-
| tirely unfit for business streets,-that wood
block pavements could be put down cheaper
and maintained at less, cost than macadam,
and are healthier and cleaner than the best
macadam.
The report of Mr.. Blakely, prominent en-
gineer of Chicago, is largely quoted from in
series of articles furnished the Times by May
or French On the subject of macadam Mr..
Blakely says:
"The expense of maintaining the macadam.
lied streets of London and Paris is excessive.
The cost OF maintaining Parliament street in
1873 was 81 cents per yard, and in 1873, IT
cents per yard. Whitehall street for 1877
cost 90 cents, and for 1879 50 ceuts. Great
George street for 1877 cost IS cents per yard,
and Victoria street for the same year, Sc cents
ger yard The vestry of Paddington, in May,
1873, issued valuable report on this ques-
ton, arriving at the conclusion that the mac
adamized road should be succeeded by an
other kind of pavement, and that the pave
ment should be wood. Wood had been
adopted in the adjoining parish of St.
Georges, Hanover Square, in Piccadilly,
Bond and ST. lanes streets. That parish
said Mr.. Aveling in the institution of civil en-
gineers, took the lead in abolishing macad-
amized roadways, and great honor was due to
the authorities for substituting the existing
quiet, clean and convenient wood pavement
in Piccadilly and elsewhere This gentle
man said that the wood cost $2.8o to lay,
the cost at the end of fifteen years, including
cleansing, would only amount to s. cents per
yard, against 90 cents per yard for macadam
From the report of the engineer in chief of
the city of Paris quote the following: The
macadam, which represents ~ per cent, Of the
whole service of the carriage ways, has been
considerably diminished in the last ten years,
in consequence of the difficulty and expense
of maintenance. Its use is now restricted to
pleasure drives and bouevards; but in all
cases the macadam never occupies more than
a central zone of the street, bordered by gut
tiers or facing paved stone, whose width varies
from sixteen and four-tenths to two feet. The
annual maintenance varies greatly, according
to locality, and exceeds 7I.69 per square yard
in certain streets, which have an exceptionally
heavy traffic, and on which ii is necessary to
make two general repairs each year, each one
| consisting in putting on a new coat from five
to six inches thick. The average cost of main
tenance is thirty-seven cents per square yard
Major Twining, of Washington, in a late re-
port says:
The macadam pavements, when laid in the
center of city, and subject to much travel,
have proved very unserviceable here as else
where. The pavement of this character on
Four and Half street is in very bad order,
and to properly repair it would cost not less
than 90 to 10 cents per square yard, or more
than SEC, 900 for the street. 1t would be
cheaper in the end to replace it with different
material. On streets of light travel it has
lasted reasonably we'll but at best it is an ex-
pensive pavement to keep up, and requires
constant repairs Gen. Q. A. Gilman, U. S.
A., standard authority on the subject of
roads and bridges, in a work devoted to this
subject, recently issued from the press says
Road surfaces of broken stone or gravel re-
quire such constant supervision to arrest the
formation of ruts, and are so infested with
Gust or mud as to render them greatly inferior
for streets subjected to heavy traffic. They
must, in order to be kept in tolerable condi
ton, be swept every night, and in dry weather
sprinkled during the day. Carts conveying
the material of repairs, whether gravel or
broken stone, should be kept constantly upon
the streets, especially during those hours
when it is frequented, SO that all the ruts and
depressions may be promptly filled as soon
as they appear. 1t must be admitted, how
ever, that there appears to be no trustworthy
record of any suburban of this kind, in
thickly settled district, which has been main
tanned in such manner that the inconveni-
ence and annoyance inflicted by dust and mud
upon the residents or people doing business
on either side, did not in reality amount to
most serious public nuisance of all pave
ments,' says Mr.. Deacon, practical London
| engineering authority, from whom have be-
| fore quoted, 'macadam appears the least sat- |
is factory. 1t is the most costly, the dirtiest |
and on the average of all kinds of weather |
and all conditions ofrepair, involves greater |
traction for given load than any of the other
pavements when well laid. Its dirtiness
consists not only in the excessive mud |
of wet weather, and the excessive and |
impure dust of dry weather, but |
also in the facilities with which organic impur-
ifieS are absorbed nv II decomDoSad ,,y;+b;n :, |