Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1914-08-10

-SseA county, New Jersey. of which 147
are OF water-bound macadam.
twenty years ago the water bound ma
caaam stood in high favor. and there was
an enormous increase in it, use in the good
roads movement which followed the general
introduction Of the bicycle
Before the advent of the high power au-
'omooile, water-bound macadam was
ciassed as a permanent pavement"
The old type of macadam road IS as in
adapted to modern conditions as the com
mon dirt road.
There y. therefore. n general demand for
2 more resistant surface and various sys-
tens of oil treatment have been introduced
to meet this need.
The modern highway problem /. largely
a problem of maintenance.
Are YOU satisfied with highway condl-
lions IN your county-in your city! Would
"A survey helpR
Breaks In the County Road System.
What = wrong with the county road sv--
tenn in ESSEX
a preliminary answer to that question
was found in the report Of the survey
OF the county highways by the New York
Bureau of Municipal Research. made on
behalf Of the Public Welfare Committee
and submitted to the Board of Freehold
ers
The NJ unicipal Research Bureau
points out that road maintenance j. a
greater administrative problem than
road construction. and il the county en-.
gineer has no direct. practical control
over road maintenance. the high cost Of
that maintenance, which includes re-
pairs, may be attributable to lack of en-
cheering supervision.
If the annual reports of the Board Of
Frecholders are to be taken nj their
face value, then this cost Of maintenance
il exceedingly high in Essex county.
Two instances from the report for the
year 1928 will suffice as enlightening
examples:
The cost Of maintenance Of Bloomfield
avenue was 12.S cents per square yard.
including three kinds Of pavement
broken stone, granite and bitulithic.
The average cost of maintaining as.
phalt pavement in Manhattan. where the
congested traffic il the heaviest in the
country. il ten per cent less than the re-
ported cost Of maintaining Bloomfield az
enuc.
The cost Of maintaining Centre street.
which is paved entirely with broken
stone was given as:
9.I9 cents per Squar ward in 1909 IN.
3O.4 cents per square ward in 1901
7-SS cents per square yard in l9ll-l2
563 cents per square yards in 1921 t..
The cost for repairs in 1928 alone
was more than the complete rcconStruc-
ton and resurfacing Of the road should
have cost.
For the -four wears examined. the IN
crease In the repair account for the
whole country was not proportionatc 10
the new mileage Of roads.
The expenditures for maintenance il
1928 increased forty per cent. while
there was no increase in the mileage.
These figures, however. do not show
the real conditions.
They grossly cxaggcratr the cp>, ~
maintenance.
The fact il that the annual report, Of
the Board Of Frecholdcrs fail t. gi,,
statistics as TO road mileage. maintcn
ance cost and other details a. ~ the *
pensc Of repairs.
The accounts ARE not kept - ~ 10 bc
ineligible TO the public.
They fail to classify the roadwa,s &C.
cording To the class of pavement used.
or 10 the amount Of traffic they bear.
Different accounts are jumblel togrth
For tlfis reason il ~ impossible 10 dis
cover the maintenance cost. for il j. ap
parent that some Of the amounts report
ed must have been used in making per
manent improvements.
For the same reason comparisons IT
maintenance cost in this country with
similar cost in other countries ~ cities
cannot be accurately made
These conditions must be- promtlv rem.
cdied.
There are To- miles ~ count, high
ways in Essex.
The repair Of these roads dc>tS ia The
Office N the county supervisor ~ roads
who has fifty patrolman under him.
There il no supervision of the patrol
men other than that exercised directly
by the supervisor Of roads. and they use
their discretion largely a to the necc>
sity for repairs.
There are no statistics kept a. show
when 10 cease 10 repair a road and when
Ia rcpave-that j. e. say. 10 show when
repairing j. more expensive than would
he the rebuilding of a wornont pavement.
The necessity for d complete reform Ia