Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-03-16

apply to the selection of a pavement
in front Of his property, the same
tests that he would apply to any ar
tic..e he would buy for personal use.
The idea OF a pavement is to benefit
a property. 1t is an Improvement In
the II that any pavement is an
Improvement over a dirt road, but in
only a few instances is i: an improve.
ment in the the sense that it increas-
es the money value of the abutting
property. H.
What !. heavy traffic?
There is a great diversity Of opin'
ion as to what constitutes heavy traf
ffc. Each person using this phrase
has a different mental picture tc
which he applies it. 1t is for these
reasons that there are found such
widely divergent ideas as to the dur
ability of brick pavements. II is nat
ural t:lat III small cities the principal
streets should be thought to have
heavy traffic, while with metropolitan
standards it would be found exceed.
ingly light traffic. A street upon
which a vehicle passes a given point
in every - seconds for 10 hours,
would be thought bv some to be a very
busy street, while this would really
mean 1000 vehicles in !. hours, which
is considered light traffic.
The situation today in regard to all
forms of pavement, so far as the pub
lie, and much to the same extent so
far as municipal engineers are CON
cerned, is such that it is impossible
for them to determine wherein the
true merits OF any form Of constrnc'
ton lie or whether there are any in
herent defects in it. There has been
a continuous tendency 10 be led by the
specious and h~ystcrical claims OF the
advocate of the latest novelty, merely
for q change from some standard
form. a.. ...
The novelties in the forms Of pave
ments which are only too frequently
put before the public are creations Of
this description. People flock to all
vocatc their merits with an eagerncss
which depends OH the indu0ement held
out to do 50 or the desire for some
thing new, although the actual value
OF the pavement can only be determin-
ed by service tests.
, Some years ago brick pavcments at
tracted a great deal Of attention and
!leralded as the solution OF the
problem. Their obstruction
,,,nc nr,%nyo1 s,fo IN n ynrv l11sya S10In
since the demands Of the people could
not be resisted. The brick manufac-
turer was eager to turn out bricks to
fill the demand, but he often gave
little thought to the character OF the
product. A large portion Of 1t was
quit unfit for paving purposes, which,
added to the unsatisfactory way III
The foundations were construct
ed and the brick laid. caused these
pavements to wear out rapidly.
Today experience has taught the
manufacturer to make a. better brick,
and the engineer and contractor how
to lay them. 1t has also shown the
limitations Of this old form of pave
ment, and that it must be confined to
of light traffic. Had the intro.
duc:ion of brick pavements proceeded
more slowly The vast amount Of mon.
ey wasted in them might have been
saved. IA
It will be readily conceded that no
pavement of whatsoever material it
may he made, is Of itself helpful or
lnhelpful, nor have many Thousand
bricks laid side by side in the street
themselves any power to effect, the
health of anyone. Whatever results
3ccur in this line come from accumu-
on the pavement, and not from
he pavement itself; hence the pave
ment which is most easily and econ
omically cleaned and therefore most
apt to be cleaned, is the best on the
score of helpfulness.
The usual brick pavement has
cracks every 2h inches Or so, in one
direction, and: every s inches in the