The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1913-05-19
Expensive Road in Poor Con-
ditiOn and Must Be
Done Over
RESEMBLES PIECE OF
CORRUGATED BOARD
New Road Commissioner Has Engaged
Boston Contractors to Begin Job in
Few Days-A Few Streets viii Be
Cued by Special Machine.

Ciled by Special Machine
Main street from the Peoples bank to
the Wells fountain in front Of tine high
school building will be torn up and re-
built under the direction of Road Com
missioner Henry r. Brown and under the
direct supervision of the Gibbons Con
tracing company Of Boston. The work
will be begun within a few days, probab-
" before June /
This means that the expensive state
road work from the bank corner to the
town hall building, which was done re
Gently by County Highway Commissioner
d. +. Perry, who was then also town
road commissioner. largely will he done
over, except cutting down the grade
This short piece Of road, which looked
well when first completed has not worn
well and now resembles piece of cor
rugated cardboard. 1t Is not as bad as
the road from the town hall to the
fountain, but it Is unpleasant to ride
over, or even to look at.
The trouble seems to have been caused
by a poor grade of tar, although the
price paid was high enough to have in
smed material of hrst-class quality. An
expert who has examined the road says
that poor tar, or even good tar improp-
erIy put on. does not hold the crushed
stone firmly and that when the wheel
Of Il heavily loaded wagon moves along
the road the material is crowded ahead
of it until hard mass Is formed. Then
the wheel goes over it and repeats the
process. This leaves the road full of
dipholes, and when rain falls or the
street sprinkler goes over the road the
holes are filled with water, which adj
serbs the salt in the tar. This saline
solution stands in puddlcs all the time
and rots the road surface Main street
already is badly rotted by this process.
and by another year, if it was not re-
paired, the street would be practically
Worn out.
Brattleboro probably never before had
so bad Il piece Of road as that from the
town hall to the Wells fountain at the
present time One reason why it has
hcen neglected has been the expectation
that work on the new government
building would be begun soon, which
might necessltate a change in the grade,
but as there is no prospect that the
building VIII be started in the near fu-
tuTe the new road commissioner has de
cIded to repair it at once
Mr.. Brown will have the surface OF
the entire stretch of road from the bank
spiked wheel OF the road roller. after
which a new dressing Of No , crushed
- rock, the Greenfield gray rock, viii be
land and this viii be given a coating oil
, first quality tar and covered with pes
- stone and sand. The tar and rock have
been ordered and as soon as it comes
an expert from the Gibbons company
will come to supervise the work anC
spread the tar.
, The tar will come in special cars anc
, will have to he heated in the cars befor,
it can be removed into a tank vehicle
The vehicle viii be equipped with
heating apparatus which will heat tn
e tar to about go degrees. The vehicl
CT will spread the tar while hot and in TIN
right quantity, which Is scarcely possibl
with the ordinary sprinkhng pot method
This work viii mean an expense whic
ought to have been avoided, but Mr.
Brown believes that it will he econom
to do the work this year rather than t
wait another year, although he wou,
like to use the money elsewhere
I'm addition to the work on Mai
! street Mr., Brown will have similar treat
ment given to the state road from til
iron trough near the cemetery to the &C
/ ment bridge at West Brattleboro. frof
the top of Green street hill to the Put
nam house at the foot of the hill, whic
IS a worn-out stone road, and from tn
Abbott market on Elliot street to til
crossings near the junction of Churc
j. and Elliot streets This Is about all Il
4 can do Of this kind OF work this season
- Some Misunderstanding exists as to til
{ oihng of streets to lay the dust I'll
t road commissioner has no money wit
d which to do this work, and it cannot /
n done unless the abutters get togetht
t and agree to pay their proportional
!. share OF the expense. Some of them ha,
- done this, and tomorrow representative
= of the Standard Oil company will beg
~. oiIing Walnut, Guilford, Frost. ELI,
IL and Canal streets and in the rear
IS Crosby block. These streets will, not |
III oiled for their entire length, howeve
On Canal street the section which W
le be oiled is from the junction of Pr
* street to the top of the Fuller hill. Th
. work will be done hy sOacial machine