The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-04
TELLS OF PAVING ON
 CLEVELAND STREETS
John w. Sibley Tells of Tour Over Highways of Cuyahoga
 County, Ohio

"Cuyahoga county, Ohio. of which Cleveland is the county seat, certainly sets the pace in the matter of permanent, dependable highways" said John w. Sib- ley, who recently returned from busi-
 ness visit to the city of Cleveland.
 While there MT. sibley said he was given an automobile ride around the city
 of Cleveland. which has some TOO miles
 of the finest vitrihed brick pavements
 in the country today.
 'The type of construction in Cleveland
 is on the best basis, as is shown by the fact that on quite number of streets the vitrihed brick were laid on cushion of sand right on the natural clay soil without any concrete foundation, but the joints of the brick were filled with ce- ment grout, thus making practically n monoithic pavement, and although they had seen heavy service for IS years there had been practically no repairs needed and the pavement was apparently
 good for 20 years more"
 After touring the city of Cleveland
 MT. Sibey was driven over the county
 highway, cireling around the estate of
 John D. Rockefeller. The same type of
 brick construction was used as in the
 city, with the cement grout filler for the
 joints Mr. Rockefeller paid over hun
 dred thousand dollars out of his own
 pocket for a special connecting Ink or
 this brick pavement through his estate
 "The traffic on these roads Is heavy
 all through the week, and on sundays
 there Is a perfect stream of automobiles said MT. Sibley. There ie a perfect net
 work of brick highways leading From Cleveland in every direction to the coun- ty line with cross connecting roads every mile or two; there being up to thls time
 over 900 miles of brick county highways The adjoining counties co-operated with Cuyahoga and they now have motor truck highway from Cleveland to Akron
 distance of 70 miles, on which motor trucks of from 10 to 15 tons capacity
 are operated on regular schedule.
 "It must be source of qualification to the taxpayers of that county to know
 that the bonds issued for constructing
 these roads are represented by value re-
 ceived and the highways, after i5 to Is
 years use. are still in splendid condi- ton. and have not cost anything prac- tically for maintenance or repairs
 Jefferson county has something over a million dollars in macadam roads, upor which the annual maintenance and re- pair bill at present Is $200,0o0 or the equivalent of the interest on $iooo'OoO oi bonds which would build brick highways from Birmingham to the county line 1T every direction. It is well to bear II mind that the 5000 has to be spent in any event.
 "It would seem as if the time has now come for Jefferson county to invest its money in permanent dependable high ways that will not be whipped to pieces by the automobile traffic and carried away by every breeze.
 "In this connection 1t is well to note that the great Indianapolis speedway upon which the worlds record was broken l a few days ago. was built or Viu1heo | brick five years ago, and Is still in per l feet condition without having cost one
 dollar for repairs. notwithstanding the severe strain that has been put upon It.