Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-09-21
PROBLEM Of BINDER
BEING PROBEO HERE
Following Journal-Herald Good
Roads Campaign, United States
Expert Is Sent to Aid DeKalb
County in Her Work.

The crusade for good roads that has
stirred the south so ardently during the
spring and summer past is now deepening
into a cool-heaoed. systematic study or
precisely what constitutes a good road
Following the announcement OF The Jour
nal-Herald contest. county, after county
blaxed with the impulse II kindled. The
people awolze with a start TO the mo-
mentous need OF better highways. And
now while that enthusiasm f. still hot.
they are fashioning II 10 definite, prac-
teal ends. The will Is becoming a deed.
A striking and instructive illustration
IS 70 be found Just ten miles from At
lanta on Peachtree road where DeKalb
county. aided by an expert road engineer
from the United States government. Is
carefully experimenting to find a durable
road binder" A binder" Is to a road
way pretty much what a binding is TO a
book; or more clearly stiIl. what hem Is
70 a sleeve. II protects the surface OF the
road from the wear OF the elements and
the tear OF vehicles. particularly auto
mobiles and thus holds intact the bed
beneath. II prevents the material OF the
roadbed from unravelling. as the engineer
says
THE SUPREME PROBLEM.
This is perhaps the biggest problem
that builders OF macadam roads have to
face II is a comparatively recent prob
lem too. brought about BY the multiply
ing number OF automobiles that now skim
the country One would scarcely think
that roads like Fulton county's and De-
EaIb's would suffer from the agile. rub
Ser tires OF an automobile The fact Is.
however that the automobile has forced
upon counties the necessity OF discovering
some binder that win preserve their
highways. A road unprotected by sat
isfactOry binder will suffer more from q
wagons And for this reason: The rub
Der tires OF the machine continually suck
up the surface layer Of macadam which
in the course Of months IS blown away,
thus leaving the under layer OF coarser
stone open to washes and to displacement
BY heavier vehicles. To be sure. automo-
bIles are not the sole-factor in robbing
an ordinary road OF its top surface. II
there were no such things as automobiles.
the problem would still remain. The au-
tomobile has simply forced II upon the
road builders attention. and thus what
from one viewpoint may be regarded as
destructive agency. has become in reality
q potent instrument toward more effective
construction.
A HUsTLING SCENE.
mis- stretch OF Peachtree road extend
ing across DeKalb from the Fulton coun-
~ line toward Chamblee is being expert
mented upon 10 test the comparative
values Of materials now mostly in vogue
for binders. II was a hustIing spot yes
terday morning. Along the roadside great
pots Of bituminous stuff were steaming
Giant steam rollers were crunching along
the LAYER Of granite, while a short dis
lance away stood cars Of granulated stone
ready for use. A detachment of DeKalb
county's force OF convicts were bending
20 the task r F. Freeman. the county's
road commissioner; J. J. Vincent. super
intendent OF It's road construction: W. A
Neal and ". A Neal. Jr.. were busy SUI
pervising things. and there was also Il
ciean-cut, alert young man watching
every process Of the work. answering
questions and giving directions.
He was the governments road expert,
Provost Hubbard. one Of the most COM
petent road engineers in the service of
the United States department Of agrIcul-
turs. His speciality is bItuminous road
binders. He knows his subject from rim
TO rim
Mr., Hubbard spoke enthusiastically of
the widespread interest in better roads
which Is now stirring the south. He
commented on the big part The Journal
Herald contest has played in this awak-
ening and declared that ne had never seen
a county begin it's road Improvement more
inteIligentiy or with finer equipment than
has DeKaIb county. Then he fell into a
discussion OF road binders.
ROAD BINDERS"
There are two imperative problems be-
fore the road engineer today" he said.
zone is TO preserve old roads; the other is
20 find a more satisfactory binder for
roads now being constructed 1t is gen.
orally agreed. ] think. that for a macad-
am road some bituminous material Is es-
Eential as a binder. The oldest and sim
rfest form OF hinder is water itself That
VIII keep the dust down and that, after
all is the heart OF the problem. 1t is
the disintegration OF the skim of the road
which starts destruction But water is i'm
practicable on any considerable stretch
OF road because Of its rapid evaporation.
Solutions 81 deliquescent salts. that is 10
say. salts that absorb and retain moisture.
were next tried. This helped to q degree,