Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-01-22
PIONEER Man in
CONCRETE URGES
HFOR HONOLULU
M. A. Moore, Who II Years
AGO Laid Second Stretch in
Country, Adds to Discussion

,
An entirely unsolicited Endorsement
of concrete paving as effective for Ho-
nolulu comes to the Star-Bulletin in
the following letter, brought out by
the expert discussion Of paving mat
tiers printed in this paper:
1924 Artesian Street, Honolulu.
January 81, 1916.
Editor Honolulu Star-Bulletin,
Sir: | was much interested in read
ing in Tuesdays Star-Bulletin the let
ter of Engineer Sloan and the remarks
OF Mr.. Bristol regarding street paw
ing. think both these gentlemen
are to certain extent right in their
conclusions. though j should take is
sue with Engineer Sloan when he says
cement does not make a good street
pavement without cover. | have the
honor of being something OF pioneer
in cement street paving. ! have al
ways been an enthusiast over the use
OF concrete. Twelve years ago built
small stretch of cement pavement
in nv home city Of LIE Mars, Iowa,
a city of 5000 people. This was the
first piece of cement street paving
laid in the state of Iowa, and If was
rightly informed the second in the
United States, the first being at Belle
fontaine, Ohio. Now there are thou
sands of miles in the state of Iowa
alone.
This pavement was constructed as
follows: Not having crushed stone we
first laid fivesinch base composed of
coarse gravel in proportion OF to 6
of cement. Before this had time to
harden we covered 1t with / IL
inches of a mixture of sharp sand and
cement in proportion of ] to 2. AS
this was something of an experiment
we had to originate our ideas, SO we
cut the pavement in squares of about
seven feet at an angle of As degrees
TO the street AS we have plenty or
snow and fee, with a temperature
ranging from 80 below zero in winter
to 100 above in summer, in order to
make the pavement less slippery we
made a cutter of a short piece of two
inch plank with steel "V's" on the
bottom S-8 inch each way, four inches
apart. Before the pavement hardened
we ran this cutter over 1t on the same
As degree angle. This made it more
like q brick pavement, and there has
been no trouble with its being too slip
perry.
There were plenty of pessimists who
predicted dire failure, but the pave
ment has now been down almost IL
years and Is practically as good as
when laid, and has been subjected to
the heaviest traffic of the city. Mr.
Sloari's idea that cover of some light
er substance is preferable to straight
concrete may be. all right.
think where trouble has arisen
over concrete Dayements it has been
caused by either too lean q mixture
or improper construction and not be-
ing kept wet q sufficient time after
being laid. In order to make hard
surface concrete requires lots Of wa
ter, and for pavement that is in
tended to last for generations I would
favor rich top cover, if straight con.
crete Is to be used. | see no reason
why the pavement / laid in LIE Mars
should not last 100 years. Mr.. Bristol
would be perfectly safe in laying
pavement of concrete and guarantee.
Ing it for three years II 1t was prop
erly constructed.
With the frontage tax system now
in force Honolulu ought to build some
good streets. One great trouble with
Honolulu streets is that they are not
rounded enough in the center, and the
cutters in most cases are not deep
enough to carry the water, and in
many Of the outlying streets the weeds
are allowed to grow up and block the
cutters.
The city council of LIE Mars ordered
so blocks of concrete paving in 1915.