The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1908-11-13
TAR AS A ROAD BUILDING MA
TERIAL

An article summing up the Work
Of the International Roads Congress !
held in Paris. a contributor to Nature !
the leading English scientific weekly !
says:
.'On q matter of common interest
that is. the substitution Of tar or
bituminous binding material in place
of the water hitherto used to con-
solidate and hold together the road
material. and which is conveniently
dealt with under the French name
conference.-the congress pract.-
OaTv gave unanimous answer. THIS
was 20 the effect that if goudronnage
be properly carried out: if the tar or
similar material be chosen with req
sonable care to avoid matter soluble
in water. such as ammoniacal liquor
remaining mixed in TAR, so that III
can be subsequently washed out by
the rain or dried out in 'he form OF
CRYSTALS which might afterwards form
an irritating dust; if the Tar he put
On in the correct quantity. and this
quantity the smallest required 70 rDld
the individual stones Of the road
metal firmly I'm position. so that they
never roll or move il relation to one
another. and their upper surfaces are |
allowed to wear themselves bare OF
tar. it is not a difficult matter TO OBJ |
tain. at quite a moderate expense. a |
waterproof road which will not do |
my damage to vegetation. which will
be practically Justices if it be swept |
at reasonable intervals from horse
droppiugs or dust blown upon it from
the adjoining land. and which need
not be slippery, either to horse or to
automobile traffic, whether the sur
face be wet or dry.
Wear Reduced
L appears certain also that by so /
dealing with the roadways their wear
can be so greatly reduced that the
annual cost of mkcep Of roads so
treated will be considerably less than
The cost Of the existing water-boUnd |
roads. of which so much Of the ma |
terial is lost by being blown away as
dust in summer or washing away as
mud in winter.
There can be- no doubt tnat all en- /
@ireers. English and Continental. are
IS one OF this important question. ami |
this in spite Of the fact that many |
paragraphs obviously inspired b. /
those who wish to recommend 9th T |
binding materials. were widely circu |
lated in the journals during the pro |
gress of the congress. 1t had been
roundly asserted that tar was pal
litative, but that on the whole its de- |
fects were greater than it's advan-
tages. Those who were present at the |
congress know that this is an incor- |
rect statement; that such damages as
has occurred to trees and vegetation, |
or inconvenience to passengers, such |
as irritation of the eyes and throat, |
which followed on the early applica- |
tions Of tar to, the French roads dur |
ing the Grand Prix race, was due to |
well understood causes, that is to say, |
to the use Of crude tar and its appli- |
cation to a road surface which had
already broken up, both of which |
faults the congress unanimously con-
demned.
American Study
1t may be here remarked that owing !
to the cautiOusness and hence the !
reticence, of some of the most i'm |
pOrtant of our road authorities, the |
true position of England, which now
possesses the greatest lengths of
carefully water-proOfed roads of any
country in the world, was not put
forward so much as might have been
the case.
1t was interesting to converse with
American engineers, who, on account
Of the Importance of road development
in America, are studying this question
very closely, and to hear from them
how much more they could learn byl
visiting our English roads than any,