Perth Amboy evening news. [volume] (Perth Amboy, N.J.) 1903-1959, 1911-06-14
STOP WORK ON
LEWIS STREET
Hastings Pavement Com ny
Ordered TO Cease 0Pu a.
tions for Next Two Weeks.
CONCRETE IS DEFECTIVE
Pro perty Owners Express
Views at Hearing Last Mig hi
--ConCern Offers Defense.

! Following a hearing last night tho
. committee on streets and sewers OF
/ the Board of Aldermen and City
. Engineer S. J. Mason adjudgs1 the
/ new Lewis street pavement detective
: as far as it has progressed am the
contractors were instructed To stop
/ work there until two weeks nave
elapsed after the last concrete mas
! been laid. If at the expiration Of
/ that time the rough concrete is found
/ in fairly good shape the Hasungs
I Pavement Company must lay aver
/ OF rich concrete mixture over &c and
! then fill in with mortar bed Of rer
/ quired proportions to bring the street
/ up to the proper level for the Eecep<
| tion Of asphalt blocks. If the c0m-
/ pany refuses to agree to these terms
| it must tear up all Of its work and
/ relay the concrete, as it has been ad-
/ judged defective in quality and guam
tity.
/ Property Owners Present.
/ The subject was thoroughly dis
cussed in the council chamber Of city
| hall at a meeting of the streets and
/ sewers committee OF the Board of
Aldermen, with Alderman-at-Large
| William D. Voorhees,, Mayor Albert
1 Bollschweiler and City Engineer S.
/ j. Mason. About ten property own
ers in Lewis street were present and
they represented others, so tnat ap-
pToXimately ninety per cent OF all
property owners along the line CT the
| new pavement were repres rted.
They announced themselves as Icing
| in favor Of Engineer Mason's plan
broached by Alderman F. A. Seaman,
which was to lay an inch Of rich
cement mixture over the present
rough foundation work so as to keep
out water and frost, should the pres
ent work prove sufficiently good to
carry 1t.
Superintendent is Questioned.
George J McIudOe, assistant gem
eral engineer Of the Hastings Pave
ment Company, and Mr.. Winlac, the
/ superintendent of construction on
/ the Lewis street job, were present
and Mr. McIndoe was questioned
| closely as to the work He denied
there were any DEFICIENCIES, but Offer
/ ed a proposition to raise the crushed
stone foundation between Water and
! State streets half an inch, ana be-
| ltMean- Stat. street and Madison La
nue. an fnch. Prf0T 70 THIS ri 7'TTdTv
a proposition -te-c cover thaS-1-rS-rr1s r i
street with a rich mixed mortar 5ed.
/ His propositions did not seem anae9t-
/ able to the city officials or Pre- arty
| owners. The latter declared they
/ would only abide by the city elgi-
neer's plan Of doing the work an as
an alternative the Hastings con amy
could tear up the street again
Alderman Seaman's Views.
! According to Alderman T. A. sea-
man, who has watched the work
| closely of late, the Hastings company
has done much poorer work on Lewis
street than it has performed on any
/ Of the other streets it has heretofors
paved in this city. He held that it
/ was deficient from the very begin
ming, the company failing to pro- erly
tamp or roll the sub-foundatoin In
/ reply to this Mr.. McIndoe said it was
not necessary and that his com~any
rarely did unless it was found neces-
sary.
When the assembIage got together
in the council chamber Alderman-at-
Large VOORHEES, put the subject of
the alleged DEFICIENCIES before Engi-
neer McIndoe. He declared that the
/ first he heard of them was on Sunday
/ last. He said that he made an in
spectiOn Monday and found the con-
/ crete foundation in accordance with
specifications, not quite four inches
! in thickness. The sub grade was
measured, he said, and found correct,
so that where discrepancies evie4 IN
the rough concrete work it would
have to be made up with the mortar
bed to be laid on top, so that in the
/ end the street would have a total of
| four and a half inches of concrete.
! He declared it was impossible to lay
crushed stone concrete smoothly,
| stating that there were bound to be
variations here and there and that
such places would be built up with
mortar bed. which he termed good
i concrete and really a part of the
( crushed stone product. He stated II
/ was never intended to lay crushed
/ stone concrete TO an absolute meas
/ urement. owing to its roughness.
/ Mr.. McIndOe admitted that be-
cause of carelessness there was a
/ discrepancy in one place. where the
/ concrete was found lacking in thick
ness
Sub-Grade Is Discussed.
| Alderman Seaman then told the
engineer ne ala not thlnK the sub
grade was right as it was not rolled
nor tamped as the specifications call
/ ed for The engineer said he de-
pended upon trucks to do the little
| rolling necessary from High street
westward, and that no rolling was
/ necessary at the easterly end of
Lewis street because of its sandy con-
dition. Mr.. McIndoe said in Brook
! lyn and Queens counties of New York
no rollers were used on sub-grades,
/ excepting in places where holes had
! been left after excavations for pipes,
etc.
/ Returning to the subject of the
! (Continued on page -