Evening journal., 1908-11-10

CURED to me that the pavements u
great CITY. where traffic is of the
heaviest kind. could be smooth ana
true everywhere; but as L went through
street after street, over tracks and
crossings with never jolt or jar,
my surprise quickly changed to admir-
alton and / determined to learn how *
was done.
80 greatly was I interested that I
lost no time in hunting up an engineer
in charge of street w3-k to fini out
from him how these Iavements we're
laid and maintained. I soon had all
the information that he could give me.
The first thing we reed to learn in
the building OF pavements for heavy
traffic is thrt the real roadway should
be below the surface, and that it is use
less to try to make the wearing part
do duty as foundation too. To use the
words of MIR. Boulnis. the city engineer
Of Liverpool "the Importance Of prop
erly constructed and rigid foun1atiof.
for all weight carrying streets cannot
be overstated. 1t is the foundation
which carries the weight; the material
with which the street is paved is mere
" the skin or veneer to preserve the
real roadway. the foundation.
The foundations for the streets or
Liverpool where the traffic is heavy are
made of a thick bed Of concrete or
"beton" of the very best quality, most
carefully mixed and laid only after tho
ground has been thoroughly cons0li-
dated by rolling with heavy steam
roller. Streets of less Importance
have their foundations made Of large
stones set on edge and carefully bedded,
/ the interstices being wedged with
broken stone well rammed in and al:
thoroughly consolidated by rolling.
The next thing TO lealn is that with
/ in certain limits the smaller the stone
with which the street Is paved the bet
ter. both on account of cmoothness and
durability. We use large stones under
the notion that they are better adapted
to withstand heavy traffic. Never was
there a greater mistake. Instead of the
strength sought for We obtain un-
evenness. which will insure the speedy
destruction of any pavement subjected
to heavy traffic. The larger the stone
the more difficult to bed properly; the
greater the chance for variation In
size; the larger the joint; the more alp.
il is to ride or tilt under the blows OF
traffic: the more difficult it is to make
il watertight. and the quicker The
edges wear away and become rounded
Most of the pavemeIts of Liverpool
are made of ga inch cubes of granite
stones from six to twelve times smaller
than the average size of ours. TIL.
greatest permissible variation in Their
size is one-quarter incn. They are iait
with the thinnest possible joint, or th'
thinnest possible bed 'of sand and ar'
thoroughly grouted WITH a very no
mixture of creosote oil and coal Ia
pitch. They last from twenty to thirty
years under the heaviest traffic. The,
can be turned three times. and ale 81
, smooth and even that, as I have said
, a car runs over them as if on newll
! laid brick or asphalt. They are sasil'
! cleaned. and when cleaned are not slip
! perry in wet weather. They offer tn
! least possible resistance to traffic. az
4 noiseless as compared to our stone paw
> ed streets. and they afford an excellen
foothoid for horNes.
The English rails are very marrow
[ and of box form of "tI" section. wit
two nanges or webs. one on each side