The record., 1913-11-20
HIGHWAY
IMPROVEMENT
COUNTRY ROADS OF CONCRETE
Lasting Materials for Construction
Available In Many Places in Form
OF Sand and Gravel.

No single facto; plays such an i'm
portant part in the social and bust
ness life of a community as the quail
fly of its roads. Aside from the pleas
ure and convenience of travel. pos
sible at all times over permanent
roads. there is the financial phase
which directly concerns the cost not
only of farm produce, but of city
products as well. Consequently ev-
erybody wants good roads. writes p.
II. Wilson in the Iowa homestead. In
the matter of paying for permanent
highways. generally satisfactory
agreement seems 10 have been reach.
ed in the proposed distribution of the
cost between the nation. the state. the
county and the users of the road in
question. As a result. within few
years this country will take its right
full leading position among the ma
lions of the world in the number Of
miles of permanent roads.
In a way il is fortunate that the
United States has been rather SLOW
In the matter of road making. The
roads can now be built of lasting ma.
terials. such as will withstand the
wear of motor traffic which is fast
running Europe's century-old road
ways. Lasting road materials are
everywhere present In the form OF
sand and gravel from pits and stream
beds and crushed rock from stone
quarries. Combined with Portland ce-
ment into concrete. they form an In
expensive and permanent road sur
face which successfully resists the
usually destructive action of automO-
biles
The first cons nsideration in the build.
ing Of concrete roads is a careful
study of local deposits of sand, gravel
and rock tcalled the aggregated to see
whether they are suitable for con
crete. Sand must be clean and hard
and must grade uniformly in size Of
grim from one-foIrth inch down. The
same applies to gravel and crushed
rock except tnat the largest particles
commonly allowable are one and one
fourth inches in diameter. II local
materials are usable. considerable
sa ing will be effected. as only CO
ment will need to DC freighted.
; Ii is much faster and cheaper 10
mix the concrete with machine than
by hand. Depending on the grading
Of the aggregate. the concrete is
usually proportioned one bag of Port
land cement to two cubic feet OF sand
and four cubic OF screened gravel OF
crushed rock, or one of cement to two
OF sand and three of gravel or rock
During the grading and draining ol
the road. the aggregate is hauled and
piled at convenient points. The con
crete is mixed musay wet, is deposit
ed to the thickness OF six inches upor
the firm old road bed and is brought
TO grade and shape by means of 4
templet. In order to shed the waite,
on the side drains the surface of IN,
concrete is given a rise or crown II
the center of one one-hundredth Z
one seventy-fifth the width OF tn,
roadway. The surface is finished will
wooden float and wire broom, b,
which means there is afforded per
feet footing for horses. At intervals
Of 25 feet the road is divided into Gee
tions by narrow contraction joints ex
tending crosswise the road and en-
tirely through the concrete. Thes,
joints are formed by means of a thil
metal or wooden cross form or divid
ed to which is tied a single or doubl
thickness Of tar paper with the pape
face against the last laid section O
roadway. After the surface OF thi
section ic finished and while the cor
crete for the adjoining section is b.
ing placed. the cord holding the pa
per to the cross form is cut and tn
cross form is removed. The tar ps
per adheres to the concrete and stay
in the Joint. which is reduced to tn
thickness OF the paper by forcin
against II the freshly placed concret
OF the section under construction.
When the surface OF the concret
has hardened enough to prevent ri
ting IL is sprinkled with clean waite
and is kept moist for several day
Likewise. as room as possible. tl
pavement is covered temporarily wit
two inches of sand or dirt from tn
side road to give further air in GU
ing the concrete. Traffic is confino
10 the earthen side roads until tb
concrete is about two weeks old. !
the meantime shoulders OF broke
stone or gravel are built along bot
edges OF the pavement. These ar
made three feet wide and sufficient,
thick to be firm and to make II =
easy matter at all times for WACO
wheels 10 pass from the side roa
onto the pavement