Los Angeles herald., 1891-09-20
DURABLE AS WELL AS HANDSOME.

With the Inauguration OF sLreeU I'M
provement on Pearl, Figueroa and other
streets, under the amendment to the
Vrooman act authorizing the issue OF
bonds for the payment Of the work,
there will undoubtedly be a vast amount
OF paving done in this city. Since the
city first woke up to the advantage of
well-paved streets some four years ago,
there has been a great amount of paw
ing done. But we cannot say that it
has been uniformly we'll and satisfac-
torily done. Indeed in many instances
the work has been a mere swindle, in
others it has been an inferior job, and
still in others the quality of durability
has been sacrificed to appearance.
We would define the paving of Main
street from First to Third streets as
coming under the head OF fraud upon
the property holders. The Sixth street
job looked very fine when it was fin
ished, but like great deal of work OF
the same concern, it was of the Dead
Sea apple order. Temple street, Com
mercial street and some portions OF
Spring are the best specimens of paving
we have in the city. There are other
Jobs that are creditable, and that will
perhaps compare favorably with the
ones we have cited.
In looking into this matter OF city
pavement we find that the best for resi-
dence and light traffic streets is a pave
ment that has a foundation Of at least
six inches OF concrete, with surface
laver of bituminous rock two inches at
least in thickness. Whether for heavy
traffic streets bituminous rock of a
greater thickness is the best, we
can not say. A very interesting
experiment was made few days
since in San Francisco in new pave
ment for wholesale traffic streets, 1t is
called stradamant, and consists, first, of
laver of broken rock three inches
thick; then layer FIVE inches thick OF
concrete composed of asphalt and
gravel, and then surface dressing OF
asphalt and sand one and a half inches
thick. A test was made of this pave
ment by driving over it truck with
fifteen tons OF pig iron on it. The test
was satisfactory. No sinking, fracture
or other disturbance of the surface was
noticeable, although the truck in being
hauled to the stradamant pavement dis
placed cobbles and made deep burrows
in the bituminous rock pavement over
which it passed to reach the strada-
mant. 1t took hard work for fifteen
minutes with a cold-chisel and
a twelve-pound hammer to make
a hole eight inches in diameter
through the surface dressing, and then
the workmen were employed for three
quarters of an hour in cutting through
the asphalt concrete to the layer OF
broken rock.
Such test seems to be most thor.
ough one. A pavement that will bear
without apparent injury the wheels of a
truck carrying fifteen tons of pig iron,
and which it takes an hour of hard work
to penetrate with cold-chisel, ought to
be very desirable pavement for streets
upon which heavy traffic is carried. No
one would care for such pavement on
residence streets, and yet perhaps the
stradamant would be desirable in those
streets put in on reduced scale OF dress
ing and asphalt concrete.
The bituminous rock pavement that
seems to have given the best satisfac-
ton is that in whichfa good foundation
has been secured lfor the pavement by
thorough rolling with afifteen-ton roller
Wherever this partof the work has been
done with light roller and in a slip
shod manner, the pavement has soor
shown the effect in holes and surface in
equalities. ets
No contract should be made to pave g
street, no matter with what material
unless the contractors are willing to fur
nish bonds to keep it in good condition
for five years. Where that has beer
done in this city, and the bonds were
good and sufficient, the best results
have ensued. No pavement is thor
oughly tested in year or two. Bu
when for five years it shows no materia
defects or deterioration, then it will do
But, after all, unless the work is done
honestly by the contractors, it makes
little difference about the character o
the material they use. If he scrimpl
here and there, and instead of making
solid foundation for his work HI
merely skins it over, the streets thu
paved will always prove source o
expense and dissatisfaction. There arr
contractors who will bid shade unde
the price that honest work can be don,
for SO as to make it up by dishones
practices in The carrying out of the
work. We believe that was the case il
the Sixth street and other jobs, anC
when such parties get paving contrac
it would pay the property holders tt
club together and hire reliable man tx
stand over the work and see that thu
specifications we're fully complied with
The stone period for surface stree
pavement seems to have ended. Pave
ments that are smooth and noiseless ar,
the only ones now wanted by anybody
THE Times has been requested t.
criticise the HERALD for comparing tn,
fao;o1 c..