The Irish standard., 1894-06-23
THE VALUE OF PAVING.
Vast Loss Entailed Upon the Cities
Through Bad Streets.
Comparisons Of the Cost OF Transports
tion Upon Roadways That Are Inn
proved and Those That Arc
Neglected.

Many people can only ne mQuceu 20
incur large expenses for street paving
by well-founded prospects Of gain from
it. They regard it as they would an
investment. Though it is less desira-
BILE when viewed Independently Of
these very practical considerations, it
may well be subjected to = Il tests OF
value, says Paving and Municipal En-
gineering. Its paying qualities are, to
some extent, capable of demonstration.
It's economies may be indicated by COM
parsons of the cost of transportation,
of relative wear and consequential loss
and of maintenance of paved and I'M
paved streets. While there are wide
differences in the resistance to traction
of asphalt, wood block, brick and gram
where the streets OF a city are paved in
about equal proportion with these ma
terials is less than one-third the aver
age resistance of the streets of a city
having only macadam, cobble-stone,
earth and sand road surfaces in about
equal proportion. AS one horse can,
therefore, draw for ten hours three
times as heavy load On streets of the
first class as on those of the second
class, there must be an average saving
of two-thirds in the cost of all trans
portation by means of animals and We
hicles where paved streets are used.
In other words, the city with well
paved streets will get at the same cost
three times as much service as one with
streets that are not we'll paved.
The possible gain from this in dollars
and cents is indicated by the statistics
of freight transportation. In the year
1890 the railways Of the United States
moved 7Ol, 344 ,437 tons of freight, which
was probably hauled over roads or
streets at the points Of loading and un-
loading the cars an average distance Of
half a mile each way. AS load weigh
ing ton cannot be7transported mile
by means of animals and vehicles for
less than 30 cents, which will be used
in this calculation as an average
charge, the street haulage of the
freight moved by the railroads OF the
United States in 1890 must have
amounted to about $3.50, 537, 1850. It
will be assumed, however, at the risk
of being much too liberal in a tendency
to underestimate, that the average
street haul was only a quarter of a
mile each way and that the cost was
therefore $14o,26s, ss7.4o. A. saving of
two-thirds of this sum would carry to
the credit Of the economy ACCOUNT Of
street paving 500, 512, 591.6O a year, or,
without making any allowance for the
annual increase of traffic, $685., 1875, 916
in ten years. The freight moved by the
railroads, it is supposable, was carried
largely into Or from the 225 cities
which constitute the principal markets
or distributing centers of the country,
but, after all, railroad freights repre-
sent only a portion of the street haul
ing, doubtless much less than one-half,
so that after much trimming we are
brought at last to the conclusion that
the cost of street traffic, largely in
cities of more than 10000 population,
can be reduced $1s7 ,o25, 1873 year, Or
81, $40, 251, 1892 in ten years, which, with
interest at the rate of per cent. per
annum, would make a total saving in a
decade of 81, 1868, So4, 423.50, which would
pay for 2s,044 miles Of street paving at
a cost of $4,000 mile.