The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1911-02-03
WANTS TT DONE RIGHT.

fteSSNIle, lHu, It GU. loiA-
Editor. TIMEs:-The citizens of Ham
mond and in fact the majority of the
Lake county voters and taxpayers, are
interesting themselves at the present
time in the question of what is the
most durable for roads in this county.
They believe that the enormous amount
of money already expended in this d.
rection has not obtained for them as
good roads as the surrounding coun-
ties have received for like or even
smalle~ expenditure.
Upon investigation of some of our
citizens of the kind of material used
in the construction of roads in Porter
counties, they have discovered that
both OF those counties use broken
lime stone, both in the base and top
of their pavements. while in our coun-
ty the use of what is known as Stag
has predominated for number Of
years. This material is used only In
the foundation. the wearing surface
being made of gravel and In some
cases broken stone Just why we have
seen At to use two or three different
classes of material which are entirely
foreign to one another has not been
determined. but 1t seems reasonable
q
for foundation purposes and not for
the wearing surface is not the proper
material for our roads. In conversa-
| ton with some of the citizens of La
porte and Porter counties, they state
| that they have tried other maerials
than the ones which they are now us
| ing and find that the best results aft
err a thorough test of these materials
Cd bo llS of a broken
lime stone. owing to the uniformity.
/ density and hardness, and the fact
| that it readily interlocks and bonds it.
| self thoroughly and becomes harder
and more compact with wear and ex-
| posure to the elements, and again the
amount of this material necessary for
the construction of a good road will
be from two to four inches less than
! the materials used by our county. which
is in itself large item and is bound
to reduce the cost. Recently. in North
township, there were several roads Pc
titioned for. this petition called for q
macadam foundation, but the engineer
/ and viewers saw Mt to disregard the
| wishes of the petitioners and recon-
| mended in their report a Stag base OF
| seven inches with FIVE. inches OF cobble
bonded with an inch of broken rocl
| screenings, and on top of all poured
asphalt surface. Tests have recently
been made under these specifications
| and 1t has been found that on accoun
Of the rolling nature of the cobble tina
/ it will be impossible to hold sur
face any length of time under even &
moderate pressure
On account OF the increasing auto
| mobile traffic, which is a severe ties
i upon a pavement thorough fnvesti
/ CATION of materials to be used in thu
i future should be demanded of the com
| missioners of Lake county, who have
the appointing power of the viewers
who are the judges of what class O
material is to be used If we are t.
be called upon to pay taxes for goot
roads we should see to 1t that ou
wishes as set forth in the petitions
presented by US are not disregarded b,
two or three men who are given au
thority to either comply with the de
sires of the majority or to disregard
them If we are not allowed the kin,
of roads we want, we think it best tina
i the work of improving our highway
should be discontinued until such tim
as we can secure from the commission
ers. viewers who will at least consid
err our recommendations.
! T. F. GORMAN,
Hessville, Ind.