The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-10-13

owners. The law allows cities to pave
streets, connecting streets already
paved, by merely ordering the work
done, but this can not be done where
streets are already paved. All the city
at large can pay for is the cost of the
intersections. Should the residents Of
Topeka avenue decide to pave that
street approximately 80 per centum of
the cost would be paid by the city.
The intersections there would be 100
feet wide, and the city would pay for
them"
Mr.. Tandy and A. r. Young, city
engineer, are agreed on a plan which
seems feasible to meet conditions on
Kansas avenue between Third and
Fourth streets.
II think the thing to do there said
Mr.. Tandy, lis for the property own
ers to petition for the repaving of a
strip forty feet wide in the center of
the avenue. The street car tracks
would occupy nineteen feet of this
space and / believe the street car COM
pany would have to bear the expense
of new paving there This would leave
only ten and one-half feet on each
side Of the tracks to be paid for by
the property owners"
Must Use Brick.
1t is the opinion of both Mr.. Tandy
and Mr.. Young that resurfacing here
mend vitrified brick blocks and
asphaltum filler on five-inch con-
crete base, doing away entirely with
the granite blocks in this strip.
Hillside brick paving is more ex-
pensive than ordinary paving, but the
cost of this would not exceed $1.90 per
square yard Mr.. Young said. Il
think it is the only thing which will
stand the traffic it would be subjected
to. By pouring the filler, or binder, in
the cracks so the cracks are not quite
filled, brick paving can De made to af-
ford a good footing for horses and still
be as smooth as any automobiliSt de-
sires. This was done in repaving Fifth
avenue. On Sixth avenue we got the
paving a little too smooth and during
bad weather teamsters had trouble
until the binder was worn down from
the surface of the bricks. There would
be no difficulty in having the new
paving and the old paving meet on
level as provision would be made for
this in laying the base of the new
paving.
T Gwen were the matter of cost en-
tirely eliminated, 1 would not recon-
mend doing away with all the stone
block paving, for this kind of paving
furnishes the best footing for horses
during icy weather and strip of the
old paving should be left on each side
of the street This is just what is be-
ing done in other cities to meet de-
mands of hillside or incline traffic.
cit is entirely feasible to resurface
Topeka avenue with asphaltic con-
crete. SUCH streets III OIner cllleS are
being successfully treated that way.
The sand and dirt should be brushed
or washed out of the cracks in the
bricks to give the asphalt a better Op-
portunity to stick to the base. 1t
would also be better were the bricks
painted with a binder preparation be-
fore the wearing surface was put
down. The expense of this would be
slight, but it is not really necessary
Before placing the wearing surface, de-
presSions in the old paving could be
evened up by. filling them in with
harder and cheaper grade of asphaltic
concrete Then a wearing surface of
one and one-half inches of asphaltic
concrete should be placed on this base
The cost should not exceed 70 cents
per square yard: There are no en-
gineering difficulties that can not be
overcome and I believe Topeka avenue
can be given just as good a paving as
there is in the city for the cost / have
stated.
The Way to Treat East Eighth.
East Eighth avenue, however, is a
more difficult proposition The paw
ing is in much worse condItlon than
on Topeka avenue, and do not believe
that resurfacing would be practical or
economical. When maintenance is
considered, it is impossible to have an
economical paving Efthout a good
base, and the East Eighth avenue paw
ing will not make even a good base
for a good paving The brick there,
however, are of fair quality. They
can be crushed and used instead of
crushed rock as the aggregate of a
concrete base 1t would cost no more
to crush them than it would to haul
them away and they would save pur-
chasing crushed rock / figure there
would be a saving in crushing these
bricks. amounting to 23 cents per