The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1907-05-29
sILENcING ROAR OF BROADWAY,
Practically All the Lower End of Man.
haitian Will Be Paved With
@WOOd RIOckSS


Work has been completed at the
lower end of Broadway for the remov-
ing OF former Belgian block pavement,
and substitution OF the new wood
block surface, which is laid from the
Battery to Vesey street.
The increasing popularity of this
pavement is due largely to the fact
that it Is noiseless under traffic. In
TINS respect it outdoes asphalt, which
has been considered for many years
ideal for use around hospitals and
schools and other places where a
quiet pavement was essential. In the
case OF the wood block pavement, the
noise of horses hoofs, which makes
considerable clatter on asphalt, is al
most done away with, and the soft
hollow thuds which are all that can be
heard are rather pleasant to the ear
than otherwise.
In making use of this pavement I'M.
der conditions of heavy traffic such as
exist on Broadway New York is fol-
lowing in the footsteps of the Euro
pean capitals, which have resorted to
this expedient to great extent dur
Ing the last twenty years. All the
principal avenues and boulevards of
Paris without exception, are paved
with wood. The same is true, to a
slightly less extent, in London, and
In hundreds of smaller cities wood
pavement Is also favorite.
Not only Broadway, but practically
the entire lower end of Manhattan
island, will eventually be paved with
wood blocks. The blocks are treated
throughout to the heart with a mix
ture OF creOsCte and rOsin.
The grain of the wood affords an
excellent foothold for horses under
every condition, and it has been found
by trucking companies that drivers of
heavy loads prefer the wood paved
streets to those paved with stone or
asphalt, as furnishings easier traction.
Another advantage OF the wood
pavement which will be appreciated
In the windy canyons of the Office
building district, is that fact that, I'M
like asphalt, this pavement does not
breed dust.
When the work now under contem-
plation in lower New York is COM
pleted, this city will become one Of the
best paved municipalities in the
world"
Kansas City Star.
After year or two of dirt and dis
ruption. lower Broadway from City
Hall Park to Bowling Green, is on the
way to at least temporary redemption.
Work has begun on the repaving of
the street with wooden blocks, which
will give It better roadway than It
has ever known before In all its his
tory. The wooden pavements of 4
generation ago were easily failures,
remembered now with horror. Those
of today seem to be not far from per-
feet, combining the good qualities of
all the others and avoiding their evils.
They are as smooth as asphalt and as
clean, and they are more nearly
noiseless, are less offensive under q
clustering summer heat and afford an
incomparably better footing for
horses. OF course they are vastly
preferable to stone blocks In all re-
spects, save possibly that of dur.
ability, and the way the wood is bear
ing the heaviest traffic in such streets
as Reade, Warren, Moray and Court
landt, gives promise of it's rivaling
stone in even that particular"
New York Daily Tribune, Monday
April %, 1906.