The Penn's Grove record., 1903-07-17
BOARD OF FREEHoIDERs
Vote For stone Roads For Pennsvilie
and. Woodstown


Vote For stone Roads For Pennsvilie
and Woodstown
The July meeting Of the County Board
of Chosen Freaholders was held on The
Sth in the Court House at Salem. All
the members were present and Director
Freas presided.
Current bills were ordered paid, among
the number being one of B. F. Sweeten
& Son, for $l255. 81, less twenty per cent
$1,000. lion account Of construction q
Upper Pittsgrove State road.
Freebooter Fox, of the committee on
the Elsinboro State road, stated that
State Road Commissioner Budd had gone
over the road with the committee, n
that he had refused to accept it, as u
needs draining and the shoulders taken
off in places.
On motion of Freebooter Summerill,
the committee was directed to notify
Contractor Sweeten that the road was
not acceptable to the State Road Com
missioner, and that he put it IN condl-
ton according to the contract.
The petition presented at the last meet
ing of the Board, asking for the construc-
ton of ar improved road in the Borough
Of Woodstown, which was laid owe ior
one month, was called up for consldera-
ton, when Freebooter Hannah, OF Low
er Penn's Neck, asked that the petition
for the construction of a State road In
that township, which had been before
the Board for three years, having been
ordered constructed, but nothing more
done with it, be first considered.
In accordance with the request, the APP
plication for the Lower Penn's Neck,
road was again read, but before any ac-
ton was taken, Robert Gwynne, Jr.,
made a statement in reference to the
Warren bitumen pavement and the TX
perience he had gained in building stone
roads in the city of Salem, and what ne
learned of their construction, cost and
durability in Gloucester county and 9TH
er parts of the State. He said that the
trouble with the stone or macadam roads
was to hold them together, that is to
keep the fine surface material from blow
ing off and the larger stone from working
out to the surface. In Salem they had
been obliged to resort to sprinkling for
this purpose, which cost the city $1,000 q
year. In the country this was impracti-
cable, so that the stone roads, had to be
resurfaced about every. five years, at a
cost approximating about $1,000 a mile.
In the use of the Warren bitumen
pavement this difficulty, he said, is en-
tirely obviated, as the pitch used makes
a cushion for the stone, and thus pre-
vents any grind of the stones because Of
the pressure of use, which must be the
case when stone is placed layer upon lay
er without any cementing material. Be-
side, the pitch binds all the material to-
gether in a concrete mass, andthus holds
1t. In addition, it is rendered water
tight and air-tight, and as the elements
can only affect the surface, its durability
is much greater.
Mr.. Gwynne stated that the Warren
Company was only three years old and
Of course had no roads older than that,
to test their wear and tear, but he said
the principal upon which their roads are
constructed is an old one, extending over
fifty or sixty years, and he mentioned a
pavement laid in Washington and one in
Harrisburg, Pa, which had been in use
over thirty years, and was still good. He
said the repairs to such a road would not
cost over one cent a yard q year--
He further stated that he had had a
conference with State Road Commissions
er Budd relative to the construction OF
county roads of the Warren material,
and that he had informed him that he
would approve contracts for its use on
VllO cdlaO Od6l6 az ludCdudlu.
He then instituted a comparison be-
tween the cost Of roads built of the War
rem material and the regular macadam or
stone roads, taking the Lower PENIS
Neck road as an example. This road,
which is something over five miles in
length, would cost, approximately, he
said, if constructed of Warren material,
sec, 600, while if built of macadam, it
would cost about $4,000, figuring on the
same basis of the cost of the recently
constructed Oldmans State road. While
the difference in cost appeared to be con
siderable, he said, yet this difference
would be more than made up in the cost
of repairs as between the two materials,
taking the experience Of the use of stone
roads in Gloucester county, where he cit
ed the cost of resurfacing the Crown
Point road, recently done, at a cost of
some S $4,000.
To place this additional item of ex-
pense in the tax levy of a single wear.
he said, would make such an increase in
the rate as to be Objectionable, but it
could be met by an issue of bonds, ex-
tending over a period of years, and no
one feel it. He suggested that a bond
issue of $4,000 could be authorized. the
Interest of which need not be more than
Bl6OO per annum, and then create a sink
ing fund of $500 per year, both of which
sums would not be burdensome upon the
taxpayers, and in time the whole cost
could be provided for by easy methods.
He said he had had a conference with
President Of the Warren Company,
and had secured their consent to sell the
materials used in making their road.
either to the county or to contractors. at
a stipulated price, SO that the roads could
be constructed at the lowest cost in using
the patents of this company, declaring
that he had two objects in view, one to
introduce this material for road constrnc-
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