Arizona republican., 1913-11-12
FAVORS ROAD
 IF CONCRETE
Advantages of That Mate rial Pointed Out by L. R. Ferguson, Chief Road En- gineer of Association of Cement Manufacturers

L. R. Ferguson. chief road engineer
 of the Association of Cement Manu- | lecturers, and R. J. Wegg, engineer
 ct the bureau of standards, Washing | ten, D. C., are in the valley in the | course of a tour of the whole coun- 1 try west of the Mississippi inspect | ing reclamation works to ascertain what effect, if any, alI1ali water hae | had upon cement construction. In St me places they have found that | the effect has been quite damaging but in the Roosevelt project they have found no damaging effect MT Ferguson is an enthusiast as ! well as an authority on the subject
 or good roads and he regards the
 model in all respects, the concrete | road. Said he:
 Tn road building the first thing t. be taken into consideration is the cost of maintenance. If a road is built by a bond issue and is of inferior con struction, long before the bonds have matured the annual cost of mainten- 9uce will be greater than the interest on the bonds and the annual cost will never grow less but will increase from year to year.
 "A concrete road. sixteen feet in width. will cost about $12,O0O q mile and it is a permanent road. The cost for upkeep is negligible, say. about $50 a year per mile. 1 have in l Tn nd a stretch of macadam road built at a cost of $8,O0O mile on which
 the annual cost for maintenance was $70O 2 mile.
 T understand that you are talking of million dollar bend issue for roads in this county. If the bonds gre voted l would advise you to send a delegation to Detroit to inspect the concrete road of ninety miles which is an extension of Woodward avenue "rd runs through the county Ask the county commissioners what they think of it. Ask every man who drives over it. Ask the people who live along it. That road has been in
 use since 1909 and children are now Using it for roller skating.
 The concrete road is constructed without surfacing, that is, of other material than concrete The surface i: ''broomed' and when that wears
 off the aggregate is exposed The cement wears a trifIe below the
 rocks in the concrete and a sure foot ing for horses is given. Fortyfive
 miles of concrete road have been
 built in Maryland within d year. It
 has been introduced in Connecticut
 contract was made for q mile of
 the road as an experiment. Before
 that was finished the contract was
 extended for four mics more and
 hefore that was finished a stretch of
 ten miles was well under way.
 The interest in good roads ie
 growing. The farmer sees what
 they mean to him. At the same
 time, as people learn the value of
 good roads they are becoming more
 discriminating as to the kind of road.
 A $50,0O0,00O bond issue was defeated
 in Pennsylvania because the people
 W ere dissatisfied with the proposed construction"
 Speaking of concrete construction
 Mir. Wegg said that the California
 highway commission had lately adopt
 cd it and was using it on a road
 being built northward from San
 Diego.
 Among the advantages of con
 crete road, said MT. Ferguson. is
 that on account of the impervious
 character of the material it would
 be unnecessary to give the road very
 much of crown. It could be built
 nearly flat so that q greater area of
 the roadway would be brought into
 use.