The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1907-02-05


uniform: am inclined TO believe it is
compression more than wear.
One-eighth of an inch in four years
under a traffic of eleven thousand
teams day
Atlanta's traffic would not make an
impression on such a pavement in
twenty years.
The heaviest travelled and busiest
streets of the world are paved with
wood blocks. a few that afford strik-
ing example of the superiority of wood
block pavement over all others are:
/ Rue de Rivoh, Paris, forty-two thou
sand vehicles daily; Avenue De
L'Opera, Paris, Twenty-Five thousand
four hundred; King William street,
London, twenty-siX thousand eight
hundred; Oxford, London, sixteen
thousand five hundred.
Consul General Morata, in his Off
cial report as to the durability OF
wood block pavement in Australia,
says:
Il have noticed in this city MEL
bourne) and in Sydney, where strips
of wood pavements have been joined
to stone pavements, and where both
had been subjected to the heaviest
wear, that the wood blocks had worn
even better than the stone"
During our inspection OF streets IN
New York and Brooklyn, we closely
Iexamined the Williamsburg bridge
lover East river, the approaches of
which were paved with frst-claSs,
lwell-shaped Medina sand stone blocks
on concrete. and the main body OF
the same is paved with creoresinate
wood block pavement; the wood
blocks showed no sign Of wear and
the stone blocks showed decided
wear.
In Baltimore, on Holiday street, be-
tween Fayette street and Baltimore
street. almost under the shadows Of
the City Hall. where the municipal
officials could have daily observations
fof same, the City Engineer invited the
various contractors on street paving
to put down a sample of their differ
ent Davements on this street as test
specimens. The street lays north and
south. and the block measured two
hundred and twenty feet long and for
ty-nine and one-half feet wide. The
first thirty feet space from curb to
curb was paved with sheet asphalt.
: by the Southern Asphalt Paving Com
pany OF Baltimore; the second strip
of fifteen feet and three inches was
paved with asphalt blocks, by the
Maryland Paving Company, Baltimore.
Maryland; the third strip of thirty
feet was paved with CREOSOTED
,, pine blocks, by the United States
Wood Preserving Company, New
York; the fourth strip was paved with
vitrified brick, by the Monticello
Brick Company, Reading, Pennsyl-
vania; the fifth was paved with vitri-
fed bricks by the Townsend Brick
and Concrete Company, GAINESVILLE,
Ohio; the sixth strip was paved with
Porter vitrified blocks, by the Ameri.
can Sewer Pipe Company, New Cum
berland, West Virginia; the eighth
, strip was paved with Trinidad sheet
asphalt. by the Hilbert Paving and
, Construction Company, Baltimore,
Maryland; the ninth strip was paved
with Iron Rock Vitrified blocks, by
Higley, Keplinger & Company, Can
: ton, Ohio; the eleventh strip was
paved with vitrified blocks. by the
Guise Brick and Stone Company
Williamsport, Pennsylvania; the
twelfth strip was paved with vitrified
a.
[ wei, Welch'S Siding. PENNSYLVANIA.
Holiday street, Baltimore, was Sc
Iected by the City Engineer for these
: tests because of the large amount OF
travel, the street car tracks, and cross
overs, and because of the clear space
of eighteen feet between the west rail
and the west curb, thus giving the
worst and the best conditions on the
l same street" Said pavements were
1 put down in 1899.
; The location, as before stated, was
in close proximity to the City Hall
and therefore, literally under the eyes
of the city officials The street runs
l north and sOuth-lying between rows
of high buildings. 1t was in the
: burnt district and the pavements
were not only subjected to the test
> OF traffic and climatic changes, but
that of excessive heat as well.
On our tour of inspection in 1901
4 we closely examined these pavements
with the following results: The as
: phalt strips, the asphalt block strip
! and all the vitrified block strips, save
the last, next to Baltimore street
q showed decided wear, the wood bloch
4 strip showed absolutely no wear. and
, not block in the least out of posi-
; ton, although one of the crossovers
occurred on this strip las shown by
: the plat of same, now have before
Z mel. and the sharp-pointed blocks cut
|. to fit snugly in the angles of the
I crosS-oyer
| can not understand why this test
did not convince every one of the
: superiority of Creosoted Wood BlocE
e Pavement
The only criticism against wood
d block pavement We heard during OH
= Investigation of DavementS in New
), York. Boston. Springfield. Mass. Bal
u timore and Brooklyn. was that il
t sweaty days they were slippery, bu
no one. as far as I remember, charged
: the wood block pavement, even IL
, sweaty days, as being more slippery
e than asphalt
All of the wood block pavements in
spected in the East and North were
- made of blocks of long-leaf pine, treat