Evening journal., 1911-04-24


dation but the wearing surface as
we'll must be very hard if the road
is to have a low maintenance cost
and durability.
Let us Tor the moment consider
Just a few OF the essential qualities
necessary for desirable road or
pavement
First: If we have durability we
have a low maintenance cost.
Second The road should be
easily repaired l. e.. no expensive
skilled labor and no specially pre-
pared material should be required.
Third: The pavement should not
readily be affected by climatic con-
ditions-the cold should not crack il
or peel il nor should the heat expand
1t and cause it to soften and creep.
Fourth: The pavement should be
sanitary; impervious 10 foul and
! filthy liquids and dustless.
Fifth. The pavement should have a
high traction value, thus permitting
the hauling of heavy loads with a min
imum of effort and should be little af-
fected by swiftly moving vehicles and
teams.
Sixth. A slippery pavement is not
desirable but one that offers q good
/ foOthOld for horses and one upon
which an automobile will not skid.
Noiselessness and non-absorbent of
heat with some other qualities are of a
minor Importance.
Each pavement on the market today
offers several of these qualities but not
l.all, and the more of these qualities de-
manded the. higher the price of the
pavement
The various kinds of pavements
used most extensively in the East to-
day are placed under two heads, hard
pavemepts, and soft pavements. Hard
pavements include. Belgian or granite
blocks, vitrifed brick or shale block.
wood block, granolithic or concrete
pavements and stone roads.
Soft pavements include asphalt and
the various tar and asphalt combi-
nations with stone
The idea is to combine, If we can,
hard material with a mastic to produce
a cheap and lasting pavement.
The subject Is too voluminous 10
speak upon the cost and the compara-
tive merits of each but it is the writ
er's idea that the State Boulevard
should have hard surface so that re-
pairs should be a minimum.
Cost of Maintenance.
In going over the maintenance costs
of roads and highways where they
are kept in first class condition we
find that the charge or cost is any
where from two to five cents per
square yard at least, yearly. or your
pavement gets full of holes and soon
wears out.
Of the hard pavements above mem
toned the cheapest pavement for the
money is the vitrified block. Eight
years ago the writer laid some vitrified
block and water bound macadam pave
ment in Delaware town. Some of the
blocks were laid on a concrete founda-
tion and the rest on an ordinary
rolled stone base; during the past year
he saw some of this pavement removed
and replaced and it is a recorded fact
that the surface of the block was so
little changed that after they had
laid in the street for a day or two It
was practically impossible without
close inspection, 10 say which side of
the block had been exposed to the
traffic. And the stone foundation in
this case. as there was no eXtraordi-
narily heavy hauling furnished equally
good service as the concrete. This
pavement is today as good as when
first laid whereas the macadam needs
very extensive repairing.
The latest pavement built at this
place and it seems to be giving entire
satisfaction, is a concrete pavement
six inches thick, five inches of founda-
ton with a one inch of mortar into
which a uniform spread of three-quar-
ter inch granite stone was made and
rolled with a hand roller thus giving
a slightly rough surface which makes
an excellent driveway for teams and
automobiles.
BituminOus macadam roads are par
ticularly effected by the climate. In
warm weather the sun sOftens them
and with the wind draws the liquid
life out of the pavement and the
horses beat and pound holes wher-
ever they are tied on one; so also the
rain and water running OF lying there
on rots and disintegrates both tar and
asphalt pavements
Water Bound Macadam
Roads Superior.
Thus far the water bound macadam
road is by far superior to the btu
minOus roadbed and unquestiOnablyl
the macadam road built with water is
less effected, and in fact is helped very
much, by moderate application of
water, and is little effected by the
frost. From actual cost accounts it has
been proven that a macadam road af-
ter receiving a certain amount of
wear and then given a tar or asphalt
surface treatment costs less to main
tain than the bituminous roadbed.
All bituminous pavements are much
more efficient on astreet having a con-
siderable grade than on a fiat street.
This is a fact that / have observed in
every town.
The necessary part Of any good
pavement, however, is the quality
and kind of foundation, and the poorer
the foundation the more care that
must be give to the wearing material
and surface. Nearly all soft pavements
only give satisfactory wear on a good
hard foundation and this is certainly
the cheaper construction in the end
All hard pavements naturally wear
better than a soft pavement and for
some purposes a hard surface is bet
ter than a plastic surface. So that a
good vitrified block on a stone base
would eliminate the element of horse
racing that becomes so natural on a
boulevard, would not effect automo-
bile traffic, will stand the hardest kind
of wear, will give a minimum mainten-
ance cost, and can be built fairly rea-
conahlo and IL uotfl1 no ,,,opa,r l., a.,