Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1908-05-14
ELECTS OF
AUTOMOBILES
a. W. Page. Director of Office of
Public Roads and Others
Conduct Experiment

"a minute, while an impenetrablc
cloud of fog-grey rock dust hung to
the horizon and marked the speed
ing course of the big machine, was
tn, sight witnessed by travellers
on the famous conduit road dozen
miles from Washington on Thurs
day, April %.
The seemingly prom ounc~d viola
ton of the speed ordinances was
scountenarced by two of the nations
federal departments; Agriculture
and War; however, the rushing
motor-car having been pressed into
requisition by L. w. Page, direc-
tor of the office of public roaSs,
and Dr. A1lerton S. Cushman, as
sistant director in the effort to
determine the effects of automible
traffic upon macadam highways
and the stretch of thoroughfare
was placed al their Disposal by
War Department officials.
While the racing car and others
of various weights and types made
many trips over the selected stretch
of mile and a half at val ying
rates of speed, from S to 65 miles
an hour, a corps OF skilled photo
graphcrs equipped with the most.
modern devices for photograp hing
vehicles at very high speeds, made
accurate records Of the various tests.
1t has long been known to high
way engineers that automobiles
were rapidly shortening the lives
~uf the rock surface roads of the
world and many experiments have
been made in the past six or
seven years to dctcrinine the actual
cause of the damage done. To I'M
sderstand how the soft broad tires
of the modern motor car can work
IAN injury 20 surfacc that not only
with stands, but improves under
<hc constant passing and repassing
~of vehicle with iron tires, one must
be appraised briefly of the theory
son W hich, first Tresauget of limoges
7nd later MacAdam of Ayr, worked
when giving such highways to
the world. They reasoned that a
road surfaced with bis of sstone
would improve under wagon traffic
because the iron tires OF the pass
ang vehicles would constantly crush
the stones and form rock dust par
ticles ;that those rock dust par ticles
would not merely fill in all the in
terstices between the stones but
would also form a surface DUST
binder; the WRITINGS and rollings
tending to cement the dust int a
shell like surface an thus making
she entire road one traffic. w it'll
standing, understanding mass.
They reasoned we'll and wisely.
The macadam roads living up to
the theories Of their Inventors and
improved with the passing years
until the advent os the automobile.
1T was but short time after ii
came into vogue that highway en-
ginecrs in all civilized lands
learned that new condition was
confronting them and that estab-
lishcd customs were being men
saccd. The trouble was quickly
traced to the automobile and it was
studied. 1t was soou noted that the
soft rubb + tire was the highway
menace. 1t crushed no 70 TX itself
and therefore contributed no quote
of the needful surface DUST binder,
while the treneuduous tractive
force of the, rear wheels drew ur
the dust made by the iron tired
wagons and sent it whirling over
adjacent lands,
Those, who witnessed the expert
mepts of Thursday near the Nation
al Capital could not doubt foe NOM
emf that the various road experts al
over the world are correct in thu
opinion that very rapidly driver
~automobiles are rapidly tearing uf
the surface of the macadani ruad
for not only were huge clouds o
dust lifted into the air and blown
off the road, but careful examipa
tion showed that the material unde
the wheel tracts of the. machin
was distinctly loosened and ravelle'
even during the short period Q
these tests. -.
No such effects were noticeable at
ter the passing of iron tired We
hicles: the series of tests beg ginning
with the passing of horse draw
vehicle. This was photographed a
il moved along and also as tn
wagon ties passed given mark
Then the automobiles were sen
a.. he
heavy weight touring car movin
at five miles an hour. A series c
pictures was made of that car o
its many journeys at varying rate
\x,f sraed until its max mum of 4