The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-08-04
ROADS0rGREATDRITAlN
uu.r vfCtDtm DTD ron THEM.
somE NORM ExPERInENIs.
street pa,ements Of London, Liverpool
Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow and Ed'nD"r9h'
Highways DO the United k'nEdoin'

mon a road which shall unite by IL
own angles 20 as 20 form a solid laro
.,-ss~c II must cmain tn the situation
in which II Is placed, whereas gFaVeI
must be in constant notion The choice
OF angular stones. 80 as to form a sort
Of MOSAIC or intcrlocldng system the
care 10 secure proper foundations. and a
thorough rolling. are the three great ele-
ments I'm modern British road making
Macadam. in his testimony before a
House Of Commons committee, held that
ro.d sbo,ld be as fat as possible. with
only lust enough slope TO allow the water
IA eeearc. Carriages need. he said, to
stand UPRIGHT. and II you make the o
too convex they VIII SO for the centre,
and there the wear viii be greatest go
that the water will soon collect there
His own practice was 10 make roads MY
about three inches higher IN the centre
than on the sides. and so make all parts
Of the road equally hard,
he often built a road I'm what he called
"three tlmes"-that is, with a layer OF
broken stone about four inches thick
worked until II was set. then a second
then a third. Whinstone. used much In
the north Of Eneiand and in Scotland
Was spparertly his ~favorte material, as
the most durable. but he accepted az ade-
ouate flint in Essex and Sussex; lime
Stone I'm the west. which cOnsolidates
quickly and makes a smooth road, but
not the most iastinS the hard pebbles Of
Shropshire. and so on. In maintenance
and repair the difference between a tow
AMI n country macadamlzed road Is, as
CoasuI Daniels expresses IT. that the
former Is hacked over. spread with
enough broken whinst0ne 60 raise Il TO
its proper level and cumber, and rolled
with a heavy roller. a loamy gravel be-
Ing used as binding material for the In
terstices. whereas on country roads the
old surface Is not hacked over, nor the
new material rolled. but LEFT TO be con-
solidated 10y travel.
Macadam substituted for the old high
curved road, consisting OF about four feet
OF large stones and other material, an
almost nat and smooth road about "A foot
thick. lie chose wet weather for re-
pairs. lie introduced the plan of loosen
ing the hardened surface with n pick be-
fore putting i'm his FIRST layer OF broken
stone. lie had his stonebreakers sit down
70 their work. in short. he introduced
many new details. which are now IA
mlliar. n his plan of using old mate
Ildl fNNNAfl Ills lRHN4N ~ bt RNAAN aill if~
paired with unprecedented economy. In
time machine-broke stones came in. His
system was presented 10 Parliament In
1918. but not until 1884 was IT supplement-
ed by NJ. Polonceau's introduction of the
steam roller. The elder Macadam lived
90 see great changes wrought by his sys-
TEN.
The streets OF London ave many varie-
ties OF pavement. In K~insington there is
n great deal Of wood pavement, which Is
laid on concrete, and usually consists OF
creosoted deal blocks. Most Of the wood
IS six inches deep. but of late years five
inch blocks have been substituted. and
Engineer Weaver, In his report to Mr..
New. thinks that five inches will be the
usual depth hereafter, I'm order 90 effect a
saving I'm cost, and that a five-inch wood
paving will last ten years. Surveyor
Harvard, Of Greenwich, however, puts the
life OF wood cube paving at four to five
years, that of asphalt at fifteen 20 TWEEN
~. II II could be left undisturbed, and
that OF granite cubes at twenty-one years.
A most valuable set Of comparisons be-
tween wood, asphalt and granite pave
ments is being made by Engineer Hay
wood. From a series Of experiments he
reached these conclusions:
That asphalt was most slippery when
merely damp and safest when perfectly
dry; that a horse might be expected to
travel on the asphalt without an acct
dent nearly twice the distance when the
pavement was dry That Il could do when
damp. and that the difference between
the safety Of asphalt when wet and dry
was not considerable.
hat granite was most slippery when
dry. and safest when wet: that a horse
might be expected TO travel on granite
without accident near seven times the
distance when the pavement was wet
than when dry, and that the granite was
about twice as safe when merely damp
as when dry.
That wood was most slippery when
damp. and safest when dry; that a horse
might be expected 10 travel on the wood
more than three times the distance when
the pavement was dry than when damp.
ana that the wood was more than twice
az SAFE when wet as when damp.
Here. however. II is necessary 10 say
that very different results are shown be-
tween asphalts OF different kinds; and
the same, I'm Fact. is true OF wood pave
ments.
In Birmingham careful investigation by
consul Jewett showed no case In which
granite blocks had been placed on a bed
OF loose sand or gravel, as is often the
case In the United States. The founda-
ton In ak inches of Portland cement con-
crete. In Liverpool exactly the same rule
is followed. and the paving in the best
streets consists OF granite or syenite sets,
ola inches wide by 6 IA inches deep. from
North Wales or other approved quarries.
IN Manchester this paving is also adopted,
with tar joints. But II is not 30 much
the city streets as the country roads of
England, hedge lined and stone bedded.
that attract the notice OF the American.
and the reason Is the fidelity and thor
oughness with which the macadamizing
system is carried out.
The material used for paving the streets
OF Dublin is from the Wicklow ouarries
ana IL very durable. II being. in fact, so
hard as sometimes TO become dangerous
ly smooth In dry weather. There are also
wood pavements, something like the
NICHOLSON and m~acadamized streets
lhe country roads are hardly as good.
On the average. as those Of England and
wales, as the frequent rainfaIls make
the soil spongy and less suitable for road
ways. On the other hand. they suffer lit
tie from frost.
Out OF $50 miles OF streets In Belfast
eeout hity are macadamized, ten paved
with granite sets, and ninety Win sea
peoples At q recent date bricklayers
received sixteen cents per no ir; stone
cutters, fourteen; PAYERS, twelve 10 six.
teen. The best paving is done by cor
porauon workmen. not by contract. The
hets are laid on q concrete bed com.
posed OF four parts OF broken stone.
TWO NIis OF brick. two parts gravel.
eha one part best Portland cement. This
v~ohefete may be xix. nine or twelve
inches thick, according TO the ira fic
ahd me nature OF the ground. All the
material must be clean. For mac |
"s; ~ whlnstone is mostly used.