Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-20
u URGES CONCAVE
AUTO ROADW
ENGLISH WRITER OPPOSED TO
PRESENT SYSTEM
Mud Would Be Kept Away from Pave
ment, and Draining of Street
Would Be Made
Easier

Concave instead of convex roadways
are urged by an English writer on au-
tomobles, as likely to diminish the
amount of mud and dust. He says:
In the case of town roads it is
rather a strong statement to make
but IL is none the less true, that near
ly every street in modern towns Is
constructed on the wrong principle
that Is. IL is made convex instead or
concave, in shape. Were town roads
slightly concave there would be no
mud near the pavement at all AS
things are now the pavement Is near
est the lowest part of the road, where
as it should be at the highest point OF
the road. A concave road would also
enable slow traffic to keep quite spoh-
taneousiy to the highest and therefore
the easiest part of the road LOT the
horse to pull its load.
Another disadvantage of convex
roads is that every heap of refuse Is
swept up close to the edge OF the pave
ment, In some cases being actually de-
posted in part on the pavement, ana
il thus blocks up the gullies and drains
and even floods the street with water
when the street is being washed or
sudden storm of rain descends. Smells,
too. If any arise from the gratings, are
close TO the houses and the doors lead
they would be as far away as possible
in the center of the roadway. Cab
stands for horse vehicles, II is true, are
gradually becoming things of the past,
but they may yet for some years be
sources of nuisance and pollute many
of our roads, and were the cutters In
the center instead OF at the sides, the
offensive matter would soon pass away
into the proper drains without running
ha NJ ci
"In a few cases in London special
drains have been made for this pur-
pose, and portion Of the road to this
extent has been made concaVe. But
these instances are few and far be-
tween. The result of the old-fash-
ioned convex construction Is that all
dirty water and mud thus collects on
the sides where the pedestrian passes,
and at a ooint also where travellers
alight when descending from vehicles
or driving up to houses or shops for
business or pleasure. A gulf of liquid
mud some two or three inches in depth
often separates the pavement from the
roadway. These are some of the in
herent disadvantages of the convex
system of road making in towns, as
regards the wayfarers and frontagers.
In addition, there is always the ques-
ton of expense to be considered, and
1t is obvious that with a concave street
one drain would serve instead of two,
with one set of gratings. and one sys-
tenn of connecting sewers with the
main sewers beneath. In fact there
is everything to be said in favor of
concave streets in towns and very lit
tie in favor of the present convex
form.
'rhe gradual increase in the con-
struction of roads with dustless ma
terial and the extending use of tar as
a dust palliative upon the surfaces of
the naturally brittle and dirty roads
will also diminish the mud in course
of time. Country roads, however, are
generally hog backed, and, unless the
cutters at the side run freely and have
constant carrying away channels in
them, are apt to provide some of the
worst agencies imaginable for deposit
ing mud and splashing it over other
road users. But even the smallest dis
trict or borough council can initiate
some reform, by not using loamy
gravel, or, indeed, earthly material Of
any kind, and by ceasing to permit
the silly practice of laying down hard
stone with mud thrown upon it with
the idea that such process assists in