The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1908-06-30
FOR BETTER STREET WORK.
Report of Jas, owen, Consulting Engt,
neer, to the civic Association.

neers to the Civic Association.
i The following in relation to the con
Fdition of our roadways should have
the consideration Of all:
! 1876 Market St., Newark, N. j.
June 18th, 1905
The Morristown Civic Association,
Gentlemen:-In accordance with
your request have made careful ex.
animation of the streets in Morris
TOWN, particularly those that have
been affected by the construction OF
the sewerage system, and the result
is as follows:
I find that the contract for the sew
erage system provides that where paw
ed streets are encountered, all the
paving disturbed on account of the
lsewer construction shall be replaced
in as good condition as originally
found and to the full satisfaction of
the Engineer.
This clause is somewhat general in
character and hardly specific in it's
terms and leaves the restoration of
the pavements either to the special
orders of the Engineer or the particu-
lar ideas of the contractor on the SUBJ
Iject.
The restoration of the pavements
requires three necessary functions.
First, that the foundation or sub-grade
for such pavement should be secured
land permanent; secondly, that the re-
construction of such pavement should
be in accord with the standard speci-
fications of the various classes of
pavement, and thirdly that the finish
ed surface should be uniform and
smooth.
The contract requires that all back
filling shall be carefully rammed
Throughout, or that after a pipe has
been covered to depth of two feet
the trench shall be flushed.
These clauses, ramming, flushing
and relaying the pavement which
would result in a perfect finish to the
roadway, being all covered in the con-
tract, the question then arises, has
the contractor achieved the necessary
result?
In reply to that would emphatical-
lily say "No." In streets where the
sewers were laid before last winter
the surface is rough, bumpy and with
large stones protruding above the sur
face and on further examination as to
the methods of reconstruction this re-
suit was inevitable from the careless
and slack system in the back filling
and relaying, and in one street where
sewers have been newly laid unsightly
and dangerous humps have been left.
The proper method of restoring
pavements to give the quickest and
most permanent results is to ram care
fully the first two feet of the sewer
trench, then fill and flush the rest of
the depth the surface of the
earth is from two to three inches
above the original subgrade On this
relay the pavement in a standard
method, if telford by, laying the foun-
dation carefully by hand, and setting
the broken stone so that the larger
stone may be at the bottom, leaving
the fine stone for finishing. For ma
cadam, carefully spread the bottom,
then relay the broken stone in the
same manner as for telford, and finish
by rolling the surface in both cases
with light roller when a good
smooth finish cam be obtained Of
course there is, liability for further
settlement but it will be small, and
the necessary material can easily be
added and you have at all times a
complete pavement.
In my observations of the work none
of these precautions have been taken.
The upper back filing has been lightly
rammed and the road material has
been heaped promiscuously into the
shallow trench without sorting the
sizes and with no attempt at finishing,
the hump being left for the travel
gradually to wear down. This in
many cases has driven the travel on
the sides and has, unduly damaged the
area not cut into by the sewer.
1t may be urgec that under the terms
of the contract, the practice that so
far has been followed, will leave the
roads in as good condition as they
were before, This claim should be
strongly demurred'to as 1t will be inn
possible to get good results finally,
without thorough overhauling of the
present surface, or by resurfacing all
the streets at the expense of the town
which would be very costly outlay.
To overcome existing objections ]
would suggest the following: For all
work done. prior to last winter where
the existing surface is higher than
the normal grade, the hump should be
removed. Examination should then
ibe made to ascertain If the proper
thickness of stone is left and if it is
laid properly. If not, where telforj
construction is used all the road ma
Iterial should be taken up and relaid
and finished in the standard manner
If 1t is macadam and there is the
proper thickness, of road material in
place, the surface can be rolled. Il
there Is shortness Of material, all
the macadam stone should be taken
out and sufficient thickness ensured
by regarding the earth, new stone
added and the surface, then finished