Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1908-08-21
PAVING QUESTION GETS
CAREFUL CONSIDERATION.
Taxpayer Gives His Views Concern.
ing Efficiency of Bitulithic.

ne IOllOWlHS communication was
sent The Evening Teller by Tax.
payer" and is in line with the cam
paign of education which citizens are
waging over the paving question.
| | noticed in an issue of August IA
1908, of The Teller, an article under
| the head of "Bitulithic Foundations
OF Superior Quality. Other Cities
Have Tried 1t With Unqualified Sue
cess
There are few points OF inconsis-
tency in this article that | wish first
to point out, then have so data and
| letters from some cities that have
tried bitulithic, and | believe that
these will prove interesting to the
property owners.
| In one paragraph the article states
that "Bituminous cement founda-
tions have been found unsuccessful
for al other pavements, even as
phalt. because the surface and foun-
dalton do not unite and in he case
of asphalt, allows the surface to slip
and roll"
Right in the next paragraph comes
a statement directly contradictory to
the one made in the preceding para
graph Here the article says that
The Massachusetts avenue, Wash
ington, pavement which is now 20
wears old, was laid on a bituminous
foundation. as is also our Oldest as
phalt pavement on Vermont avenue
and numbers of our oldest pave
ments. The bituminous foundations
are markedly superior to the con-
crete base"
Now will someone kindly explain
how, If this bituminous concrete
foundation Is only adaptable to the
bitulithic surface. why it has prov
ed so extremely successful in the case
of this asphalt pavement in Wash
ington?
Perhaps right here would be
good time to explain exactly what
this mysterious bituminous concrete
is composed Of According to the
specifications, on the top of the sub
foundation shall be laid to the depth
OF from four to six inches. stone or
Stag OF certain specified size. This
stone or Stag is then rolled and COM
pressed by heavy steam roller. On
the surface. after rolling, shall be
applied coating of bituminous or
bitulithic cement, one gallon to tho
square yard.
This coating. then. we can readily
see. in case any OF 1t penetrates into
the base. would be less than nth
of an inch in thickness, or to be real
exact It would be .018 OF an inch
thick. What is there in this ex-
tremely thin coating of bitumen that
holds the rock base together? So
far as can see, 1t merely serves to-
bind the surface to the base. That
is all the specifications call for, Who
can then come up and say that this
bituminous cement foundation is SUI
perior to any hydraulic concrete laid
to the depth Of Ave inches?
To show WHAT the bitulithic will
not stand in the way Of heavy traffic
I have a few letters from the city
engineers Of various places and will
also cite some cases where this pave
mant has not withstood the trafic
put on It.
Mr.. Charles NJ Slocum, city angi-
neer OF Springfield. Mass. says: eve
have about $4,000 square yards OF
bitulithic laid during the last four
or Ave years. 1t has been nearly all
resurfaced this season. Some OF the
bitulithic pavement was very bad
large holes that were almost danger
GUS to drive over
1--WE are not very favOrably i'm
pressed with this form Of pavement.
We have 2S,6S3 square yards OF
creosoted wood block pavement up
to the present time. and are laying
this season, about 5000 square yards
additional.
I'VE began laying in 1901, and 1t
Is giving good general satisfaction.
being smooth and easily cleaned
and not noisy"
Then again here is another letter
from Mr.. A. B. Farnhan, city engi-
neer OF Pittsfield, Mass. in which he
says: Regarding bitulithic pave
nents would state that we have laid
about 10000 square yards. 1t has
been In service Ave years, and the |
satisfaction 1t is giving is quite |
doubtful"
Mr.. Frederick A. Mcclure, city en-
gineer Of Worcester. Mass, says: |
las to bitulithic pavement, We have
something like 10000 square yards
OF this material. the first being put |
down in 1902 and the last in 1905.
The pavement is not giving satisfac-
ton here, and at the present time is
in wretched condition"
l might add that all these letters
are of recent date.
To show that this bitulithic pave
ment will not stand up under heavy
traaffic. I will say that I have seen.
on Grand avenue in Portland places