Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-09-23


by the way It was soon found
that these steep places were
the hardest, to keep in repair. In
spite of the "thank-you-marms" or
cross surface drains, streams would
form in the wheel ruts, which would
grow into gullys, and every team OF
mules or yoke of oxen, straining in
the harness, would dig deeper into
the road surface and loosen up mate
rial to be washed away by the next
rain And so, after years of use and
thousands of tons Of hauling and
great expense sOf repair work, 1t was
found that this costly relocation
would have to be discarded for a still
lighter grade This process has been.
repeated, as marks on many of our
hillsides can testify. in some cases
four OF five times. In many instances
the cost of a FIVE or six per cent
grade at the outset would have been
considerably less than the amount
expended in the various stages of re-.
duction of the thirty per cent grades
to ten per cent, to say nothing of the
enormous cost Of the hauling and up
keep. II is to be hoped, however,
that this sort of. false economy is.
about at an end.
Automobile Big Factor.
Until only recently the road sur
face in most of the country districts
received but little treatment, except
with the natural materials readily at
hand, and then with little selection of
the best materials available. When
mud holes became SO bad as practi-
cally to stop travel. load Of rocks
and boulders, and likely as not rub
bish and brush, were hauled and
dumped into the hole. Where the
road might develop at other places a
crop of rocks, these were usually COW
cred with thin layer of earth that
would be washed away by the first
heavy rain or blown away during the
dry weather. These processes were
repeated over and over again. In
some few localities where gravel or
az were handy. these materials we're
hauled and spread on the road but
in a more or less haphazard fashion,
and it was not until about 1895 that
rock crushers and steam rollers were
introduced INFO the country districts.
Even then they. were used only inter-
mittently and sometimes not at all.
Having been purchased by benefi-
cent central government and sent
into the district without having been
asked for. they were allowed to stand
out in the weather for years until
worthless.
.But the advent of the automobile
and motor truck, which have certain
iy come to stay, has revolutionized.
the road industry. and imposed new
requirements The automobile has
annihilated distance and encouraged
travel to such an extent that the.
question Of road improvement is on
Eeyerybody's tongue; The influence
upon road construction of the motor
driven vehicle is more towards better
road surface rather than extremely
light gradients. Most of the modern
automobiles can take six or seven per
cent grades without difficulty on. the
high gear, and for short distances.
considerably sleeper grades, but for
economical and comfortable running
they require a fairly smooth, hard,
road surface. am glad to say that
this problem is now in fair way to
be solved Without going into too
much technical detail, will briefly
outline some methods that have been
successfully employed in the county
of Maui
The problem has been to find some
method within our means. With
nearly 200 miles of main arteries and
300 miles OF branch roads, the
thought of anything Ike a cost of
$4,000 or $4,000 mile for high class
asphaltic pavement only brings dis
enlargement BY judicious selection
and use of the natural materials at
hand, which vary greatly in the diff
ferent localities, much can be accom-
plished. In some districts there is a
very firm, hard pan from a few inch
es to two or three feet beneath the
surface lean. Cutting down to this
hard pan. GROWING and ditehing PFC
duces surface that resists wear and
action of water very we'll. and re.
quires only a slight amount. Ct re
pair work. Firm red or yellow clayey
scils, covered with about SIX inal.ss
CT the coarsest sand to be had, well
- -