Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-07-28
The Extent Of the Asphalt Pave
ments Of Washington.
THEY LEAD THE C0fU NTRY
How They Are Made and What
They Cost.
COMPARED WITH OTHER CITIES

Der of miles of such paVements in proper
ton to its area.
But this has not always been So 1t was
only few years ago when the streets of
Washington were in disgraceful condi-
ton, and 1t is within the memory Of COM
paratively young men when PENNSYLVANIA
avenue was a mud hole But the city be-
gan to improve in this and other respects
under the new form of government and
today stands pre-eminent among the cities
of the United States for its smooth streets.
According to a recent report Washington
has 2.402,337 square yards of asphalt sur
face. or to speak in miles. 1OS.S2. AS is
shown by comparative table Washington
has 64.3 per cent Of all of it's streets paved
with sheet asphalt asphalt block or tar,
which is somewhat in excess of Buffalo the
nearest competitor, which has about So per
cent Of smooth pavement. though the mile
age is greater than that of Washington.
The EARLY Pavements.
The paving of the streets Of the cities of
Washington and Georgetown was first I'M
dertaken upon an extensive scale under the
board Of public works between 1871 and
1874 The pavements laid We're wood coal
tar and asphalt concretes, cobble and trap
rock. Wood pavement was laid to the ex-
tent of 1,1ss,OOO square yards at a cost of
A,OO0,OOO. The wood being of ordinary or
poor quality it proved a very defective
pavement and soon decayed and had to be
entirely replaced. 1t was somewhat differ
ent with coal tar pavements Between
1871 and 1878 coal tar concrete pavem cnts
were laid the extent of 1886 square
yards at a total cost of about $500 600
These pavements were laid I'm Ter various
patents and differed very much in their
wearing qualities. Most of them have since
been resurfaced or replaced with asphalt
pavements, but there still remains coal
tar pavement upon portions of Connecticut
avenue and Massachusetts avenue laid over
twenty years ago. The trap rock and cob
Bile pavements were rough and uncleanly
and have gradually given way to better
classes The period from 1874 to 1873 under
the first board of Commissioners, was
mainly spent in repairing and replacing the
detective pavements previously laid.
The Standard Pavement.
The beginning Of the pre- sent form of gov
eminent of Washington marks the adoption
of asphalt as the standard pavement in
this city.
Early in the seventies Pref. De Smedt
District chemist and inspector of asphalt
pavements in the District Of Columbia
under Maj. Twining and his successor, con-
ceived the idea of using Trinidad lake as
phalt for making the paving mixture. He
had seen the merits ard defects of the
TO secure n pavement which would have all
the merits of smooth pavement with the
further advantage of being less slippery
than the rock asphalt paveinents on the
Paris boulevards. After many attempts
he succeeded in securing what he believed
was proper mixture, ard a company was
organized under Gen. Averll, late of the
United States army. which laid the pave
Eent upon 9th avenue, opposite Del
EIonicos, in New York city. About 1879.
when the cobble pavement on Pennsyl-
vania avenue had become hopelessly out
of repair, in accordance with an act of
Col gress, the President appointed a CON-
mission, consisting of Gems. Wright and
Gilmore of the engineer corps of the United
States army, and the architect of the Capt.
tol, Mr.. Clark, TO secure a suitable pave
ment to replace ii. This commission was
given carte blanche to select the best pave
ment that had been or could be construct
ed. AT the request of Gen. Averill, among
ether paVementS the commission inspected
the pavement laid by Prof De Smed; in
New York, and after a very complete in
vestiSation of the subject, decided to pave
Pennsylvania avenue from LIST to 9th street
with rock asphalt, similar to that laid
in the continental cities of Europe and
from 9th to 18th streets with Trinidad lake
asphalt, in accordance with the inventions
OF Prof. De Smedt. This latter pavement
proved to be SO successful and superior
to the rock asphalt, regards slpperiness
that in 1873, when Maj. Twining became
Engineer Commissioner of the District of
standard pavement for Washington. Prof
De Smedt, whose inventions had proved so
valuable, was retained and appointed in
sEector OF asphaits and cements for the
District, and under his supervision asphalt
pavements were laid until 1885, when he
resigned.
From 1873 to 1886 sheet asphalt pavement
upon a siX-inch concrete base was almost
exclusively iald upon the streets under i'm
provement.
The Price Per Yard.
In the appropriation act for 1887 there
"aS provision that not more than s. per
square yard should be paid for concrete
pavements. Heretofore the price had ord-
Earily been s2.25 per square yard for sheet
asphalt upon siX-inch concrete base, and
the contractors refused to accept the re-
duction Accordingly. the Commissioners
were compelled to return to the coal tar
distillate pavements. which consisted of a
base of four inches of broken stone covered
with coal tar, one and one-half inches of
birder and a wearing surface made with
paving cement consisting of % per cent of
asphalt and 10 per cent of coal tar distil-
late. 1t did not require very many months
to demonstrate the impracticability of this
pavement. Changes in temperature affect
ed 1t to such an extent that it rapidly dis
integrated and soon became absolutely use
less, There were 141 $50 square yards of
this pavement laid. most of which has since
been replaced with Sheet asphalt. Expert
menus 10 secure cheap pavement were
continued, and it was found that the sheet
asphalt, laid upon a base of broken stone
covered with tar, was superior TO coal tar
Gistillate. The defect of this pavement was
that the base was not sufficiently rigid to
retain the shape Of the cross section, and
that upon moist ground it rapidly disinte-
grated. i
Congress in 1852, upon :he urgent request
Of the Commissioners, removed the restric-
tons as to price to be paid for asphalt
pavenents and allowed S2.25 per square
yard for asphalt pavements laid upon
streets subjected to heavy traffic, which al
lows the use of a concrete base. =
The Different Kinds Used.
According to the report of the engineer
department for the year 1s9a 1.-The following
table shows the different kinds OF pavements
used in the streets and alleys of the city:
Streets Miles: So. Yds.
Sheet asphalt . 8E25 1,5S1, aS2
Ccal-tar concrete ~ 23a9 540,I
Asphalt block ........... 1214 219,So4
Granite and trap rock. 2609 562, ZIG
Cobble and rubole. 1894 .5oS,J93
MacaGam commemorative. 1895 $50, 0.6
Nitrifed brick ~ 90 1921
Total ..............l1 756 100000
Alleys. So. Yds
Sheet aSphalt ....-......-......... S.542