Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1901-03-20
REFORMING THE STREET.

Apropos OF the able discussion on
street paving materials carried on in
the columns Of the Bulletin. Road STU
perv,sor Campbell in his report on the
streets of Honolulu deals with the sub
ject in a thoroughly practical manner.
He Is an advocate of the asphalt or BIZ
luminous rock paving for durability.
cleanliness and all superior factors
that 90 to make up good street.
Mr.. Campbell recommends that the
streets of the city be classified accord
ing to the character of traffic to which
they are subjected. Business thorough
fares, main thoroughfares. highways
and residence streets are the divisions
he suggests.
The various kinds of pavements to
be used upon the streets should be cho-
sen with due regard to the traffic that
Is to rass over them. On business
streets. in no case should there be
other than n noiseless. smooth and
elastic pavement-one that is free from
dust and dirt, Of its own creation Tex
cept in warehouse and waterfront dis
tricts. which are subjected to heavy
loads). The pavement should be OF
such character as to bear the loads i'm
posed upon them, one that will not
grinl into mud. nor one of character
that may not be Of good footing to the
horses. There are four varieties Of
pavement OF these conditions-stone
blocks. wood, asphalt and bitumen.
Asphalt and bitumen are both free
from dust and dirt OF their own crea-
ton. easily cleaned, non-absorbent,
and best of all, hygienic The only
question between the two Is relative
cost the advantages being the same.
Asphalt pavement is mixture OF COM
mercial asphalt, sand, carbonite OF
lime or mineral dust, in various pro-
portions.
"Bitumen Is natural product found
In the State OF California in large de-
posts, notably in Santa Cruz and Ven
tura, and is being extensively used
throughout the cities OF the Coast,
principally in San Francisco, Oakland,
Los Angeles and Fresno: in all Of these
places there are many miles OF both
bitumen and asphalt.
Certain portions Of business streets.
those along the waterfront and in the
warehous edistricts should be paved
with Il pavement that will be able to
stand the enormous amount OF traffic to
which they are subjected. The only
pavement outside Of wood, that will
fill this requirement is the so-called
! Belgian block (basalD pavement. II is
built OF rectangular stones four inches
wide. six to eight inches long, and from
six to eight inches deep, laid on sand
the longitudinalaxis Of the block per-
pendicular to the direction OF traffic.
, The spaces between the blocks should
In no case exceed one-half inch, being
r filled with grout composed Of asphalt
I tum and coal tar, which makes per-
: feet seal, preventing the moisture from
: getting under the blocks and causing
distortion Of the surface OF the road
way. The only objection to this pave
ment Is that II is noisy, but II is the
only thing that w0 meet the require.
ments Of the heavy traffic. There are
but few cities OF the same size where
there is more heavy traffic than in Ho-
nolulu along the Esplanade, up Fort 10
Queen street, and along Queen to the
railroad depot. The present pavement
is absolutely unequal to the stress
placei upon IT,"
It is thus apparent that no one Is
more appreciative of the inadequacy OF
our streets or the necessity for new
: material in construction than the Road
Supervisor. The progress Of the city
Is sufficient and the present macadam
so cXtravagant that II behooves thu
Public Works department with thu
valued assistance OF the Legislature t
= pave the way for and carry out stree
. making reform that will include such
4 modern material as asphalt or btu
!. men. Until this is done Honolulu will
s ever have poor streets and continu
= | Wasting money on them