The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-06-17
ROAD REPAIRS. |
State Commissioners Tells
How It Should Be
Done.
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS MADE
Application of Coarse Sand
and Gravel the Best
Method.


A New Brunswick letter to the Newark
Sunday Cal" gives an interesting. account
by Henry I. Budd, State Road Commits
sioner, in regard to keeping macadam
roads in repair. He says
TO make a good road Is one thing, but
to keep it In repair is quite another thing.
The fine roads of Europe are the result
of a splendid repair system, where every
defect is promptly corrected before it has
time to cause serious damage. 1t is said
that American pavements are much bet
ter constructed than those of France.
Most of them, however, become rutted
and raveled in a short time, while those
in France increase in excellence with
age. These conditions arose from neg
lect of our authorities to promptly and
properly repair the constant damage
inflicted by the narrow tires of freighting
vehicles. An roads ia France have per-
petual attention. If from any cause a
hollow or rut is formed, it at once is fill
ed slightly with broken stone and wet
and rolled. If the space repaired be OF
limited area, the rolling of the new coat
ing is left to the wide tires of the heavy
carts. but with xtended areas a heavy
roller is used. In our country, the pick
ing of the toes of the horses iron shoes
loosen the stones, and the wedge-lke ac-
tion of the narrow tires repeatedly pass
ing in one track produces ruts that gain
or water. which softens the roadbed-
Then too. the extreme dryness of our
climate destroys the cohesive power OF
the stone dust, allowing it TO be eashy
blown from the railroad by the frequent
wind storms
svrhe ordinary remedy for the last EVIL
uo,,ld he FREQUENT watering. A shgnE
| amount of moisture frequently admins
| tered to the roadbed quickly destroys tEs
| tendency to raVel by increasing the plnd-
ihs power of stone dust.
lsThe remedy for the rutting would pc
the substitution of wide for narrow tires,
the extension of the doubletrees OF
| heavy wagons so as to bring the centrs
of the sineletrees on a line with the Wa9-
| an wheels; then the wheels and herses
| moving in the same path, the noFsss
would correct the ruts and the wheels,
| especially E clothed with wide tires, would
/ nTess doNASthe stones loosed by the ami
| mails feet.
a am glad to say that in many sec
| lions this practice is being gradually
ADOPTED; but as our people contend that
| 81 would be too expensive to water our
4 roads when dry,o to quickly change their
wheels from narrow to broad tires, it has
| become necessary for the guardians Oh
| ,,,,i counties to devise some other means
! by which they can easily and cheapLs
| maintain a smooth surface. In the
southern portion of cur State we have
found that frequent applications OF tsnt
1 coats of coarse sand and gravel are the
4 most practical means to prevent raVellng.
| Sand covers the protruding edges OF the
| stare, thus giving a smoother surface 70
| the road. makes a soft cushion for the
| he1ses' feet and keeps the contact OF the
rsheels from the stones. We have 1ouhH
where this practice has been steadily 1oi-
lowed and renewed as soon as the WINGS
and rains have blown or washed the SAND
| away, that all complaints of rayeling
nave ceased.
.sThe application of these materials to
The thousands of, miles of maeadam
roads in the State would save an inn
mense amount, not only in the raVelng'
but in the wear of the stones. l have
in mind several roads whose surfaces
| have been thus treated. Being now three
years old, they present as fair a surface
as when delivered from the builders
hands. When rutting has become a TEA
! ttre of the road and ruts are deep, they
should be filled during the moist season
of the year with trap rock stones OF
IA size. and repeatedly rolled with a
heavy roller. When the ruts are light
a heavy roller in moist weather VIII
smooth the surface; an occasional scrap
ing of the stone dust from the sides to
the centre, and then the application or
A heavy steam or horse roller often
eheaply remedies many of the detectlons
of which our people complain.
sIn many portions of the State our
Freeholders display more zeal in the
btilding of new roads than they do IN
keeping in repair these already con-
structed, believing a stone road is per-
manent and capable of caring for itself
because it is stone; but they are grad
nallv being awakened by the complaints
of those who use them, and hence are
giving the repairs more attention Inc
state law provides for a supervisor IN
each county, who shall be constantly
watching and correcting all tendencies
toward dis~integration; also allows any
private citizen to mandamus the Cree
holders when they shall fail to keep
them in order; thus all the machinery
Il provided to cause all our roads to be
models of excellence.
"On Long Island it has for a long
while been the practice to keep the roads
covered with one-eighth to one-fourth
inches of sand. with the. result that their
roads generally present a very smooth
and pleasant surface to the traveller.
..One of our best constructed roads,
leading from Mount Holly to Pemberton,
after the contractor had finished it. he
employed a man TO keep the surface ia
order for one year, and furnished him
all the fine stone and screenings neces-
sary for him to do so. Although he lib
orally supplied the stone dust and
screenings, the heavy winds would blow
them away: so he persuaded him to
cover a mile of the road with sand.
The press and public violently condemn
ed the action, saying:-We are paying
for stone and receiving sand but after
two weeks of trial we were besieged
from all quarters to have the whole five
miles covered with sand, and this prac-
flee has been maintained for three years.
ia the satisfaction of all passing over
tbe road. and the road has the reputa-
lion of being one of the best preserved
in the State. My first attention was
drawn to this fact by noticing the fine
condition of sections where the drifting
!. ~ ox-1, 49, 80 ha1