The Mankato free press., 1910-01-14
CITY ENGINEER PREPARES HIS
REPORT ON Street PAVING

very interesting. You at once see the
popularity that cedar block once had
no doubt of its first cost which was
less than that of good macadam. The
decending portion illustrates nicely the
mistake of putting in pavement sim
ply because it is cheap. The last form
Of pavement to be adopted was creosot-
led block, which after the season of
1903 took position in advance of all
others, with brick coming second.
On the same diagram / have arrang-
Jed. a graphical score. This is based
on tables by Baker & Mccullough ad
iusted to local prices. The points Civ
ZEN the ideal pavements are as follows:
First cost Is, cost of maintenance 20,
ease of traction 10, good foothold 5,
ease of cleaning 10, noiselessness 10,
healthfulness 10, freedom from mud and
dust 10, comfortable to use 3, non-a1-
sorbant of heat 2. Total of all points
100. BituminOus concrete and macadam
are in red as data in connection with
these forms is sufficient to give them
a definite place. Of the others creo-
soted block comes. first, brick second.
The following first costs were used:
Macadam 60 cents per square yard,
bituminous .nacadam $l.lO, asphalt
$l.0O, brick $l.S0, creosoted block $2.4O,
concrete $l.5O per square yard. 1t is
of course rather inconsistant to make
estimates before specifications have been
prepared or the street cross sectioned,
however it would seem that the above
is a fairly good average. Minneapolis
put in creosoted block this year for
probably $2.35, four inch block. Labor
and stone here are both cheaper than
in the cities, but block would be more
expensive and labor less efficient.
You are already familiar with the
above forms of pavement, with pos
sible exception of concrete and creo.
soted block. | had prepared perspec-
tive of short sections of these pave
ments. The concrete with five inches
of plain concrete and one and nehalf
inches of granite concrete dressing. This
top course is cut after laying into
blocks at an angle with the curb to
avoid it wearing into ruts, and at the
same time provide against slipping.
Asphalt expansion joints are placed at
the c,lrbs and also at intervals, of
from sixty to seventy feet across the
street. This form of pavement al
though favorably commented upon by
many is comparatively untried and as
you can readily see from the form the
charge that it is. too hard for anything
but slow traffic may be very we'll
grounded. Creosoted block is no doubt
the best form of pavement except for
the first cost. Then too, Front street
is already paved with brick and Broad
street with asphalt, and for the pur-
pose of uniformity it would be better
to select one of these two. While we
have tried both brick and asphalt it
would hardly be just to Judge asphalt
by that on Broad street as the newer
and better forms do not show the de-
fects of that pavement. Whichever
form of pavement is selected it should
be remembered that they are expen-
sive, are supposed to be permanent,
and that to secure the best results
the best contractors, with the latest
equipments must be secured. And in
order to obtain the latter the amount
of work done must be sufficient to in
dule large contractors to compete and
move their plants here. We would
thus not only secure more and better
work but also get it done at less cost.
A few isolated blocks where there is
considerable traffic could profitably be
paved with some other material. Lib
erty east from Front might be paved
with concrete while on South Warren
street it would seem that creosoted
block would be especially adapted.
1t is quite possible for QUE hill street
that no better form of pavement can
be found than. bituminous macadam,
but we should proceed slowly with this
pavement on the heavily Travelled plat
streets as it is yet new, especially SO
under the latter condition.