Omaha daily bee., 1883-02-19
THE "
An Interesting Interview with an
Expert.

Mr.. John Grant, representing A. L
Barber & Co., of Washington City,
who will present bids for paving about
so O00 yards on Broadway and Main
streets, Ia In the city. A reporter OF
| THE BEE took occasion to Interview
him on the paving question.
Reporter-Whst kind Of pavement
do the people CT Council Bluffs sdver-
tise fort
Mr.. Grant-They have advertised
for bids on all kinds Of pavements,
and from i~nicatiuns there will be some
lively bidding, especially among the
representatives Of the wood block
pavements.
Reporter--Do they all bid On the
same general basis.
Mr.. G.--No, not exactly. In that
respect the wood pavements have the
advantage. They represent o short
lived and cheap pavement, without
any guarantee as to durability or main
tenance.
Reporter--I understand they claim
for cheap wood ~psvementsa durability
Of from 5 to z years.
Mr.. G.--Yes; but then ct the end
Of that time the pavement Is all gone,
and the street is absolutely impossible,
and unhealthy from the rotten coEdi-
| ton of the material.
Reporter--Well, how 10 it with the
Asphalt you representa-
MIR. G lin the first place WI put
In o stone concrete foundation.
This is good for any pavement In the
future, is always permanent and does
not sink In ruts. Second, we lay 1t
down and give bonds to secure our
pavemento In perfect repair for five
years, and turn 1t overto the city at the
end o fthat time In good condition. Oar
pavement, you see, Il therefore equiv
alent to two wooden pavements, out
side of the fact Of q permanent base
and easy cleaning, smooth and healthy
roadway.
Reporter understand some of the
wood pavement people claim asphalte
was q failure In Chicago.
Mr.. G.-Yes, these people are very
clever, and have a faculty Of mislead.
Ing the people ON this subject. Mr..
Barber has never laid q foot of a.
phslte pavement In Chicago, and the
Trinidad asphslte has neveribeen trlec
there, but wood certainly has, as any
one who has seen floating blocks ane
rutted roadways there will attest
Washington City has made more
costly experiments with wood
and other %pavements than AM
other city. The result you a see
for yourself. All that ia left of wooS
pavements is about II miles of impas
sable rutted streets condemned by thu
board Of health, and now nearly 4!
miles of asphalt pavement in magni
ficent condition affording the fneh
drives ia the world can be seen there
I refer any one doubling my state
ment to the published reports of tn
government engineers or 20 the olt.
, engineer OF Omaha, and Chairman
Creighton of the Omaha board of pub
lie works who have been there.
Rsporter-But they say asphalt vii
do for q southern climate, but not s
far north.
Mr.. G L need but cite you I
|. Boston, Now York, Buffalo, YouDgs
town, Esie and other cities where the
experience extreme cold weather.
Reporter--Well what about mace
! dam.
Mr.. g That will do very we'll TO
; country rosdways, but for streets tn
repairs will exceed first cost In a fe,
years, St. Louis, Cincinnati and othe
|, cities where they have tried 1t o
large scale have all reache
! the same conclusion.
:. Exporter BY the way, Mr.. Grant
, l understand that asphsltic pavemer
is q failure In Pittsburg2
Mr.. G.--The Pittsburg pavement
Q not a Trinidad asphalt, but n coal ia
Q mixture and like many cheap coal ia
pavements, supposed to be, or common
o ly called asphalt, Is not such, and b.
sides most of these pavements hav
been laid upon a cheap foundation
\ and not az our on q hydraulic conoret
q base. Even coal tar pavements lai
: on o hydraulic concrete bare are yer
= fair, but under no circumstance wi
they compare with asphalt.