The log cabin Democrat., 1916-02-14
GIVE INFORMATION ON CONCRETE ROADS CEMENT MANUFACTURERS OFFER SERVICES IN FIGUR- ING COST DATA FOR THIS
 COUNTY.

Responding to an advertisement which has appeared in several of the national magazines, the editor of the Log Cabin Democrat recently wrote to the Association of American Port land Cement Manufacturers, briefly outlining the conditions in Faulkner county and asking for suggestions re- garding the construction of concrete roads. A reply received today gives some interesting information along this line and suggests that if desired the association will send one of it's expert engineers to investigate the situation here.
 It has been suggested that nor row concrete road, sufficient for a single vehicle, could probably be built at cost as low as if not lower than a macadam road of greater width, with much lower annual maintenance cost. Such a road would, of course, require an earth dump of the usual width, so that vehicles could easily pass each other by each turning out on the earth part of the road This IS the system adopted by the well known "dollarway" road leading 22 miles toward Little Rock from Pine Bluff, except that the dollar way road, which Is surfaced with nine feet of concrete, has three feet of macadam on either side
 The letter from the association will doubtless prove of considerable inter est to those interested in permanent roads in this county and is reproduc- ed in full below:
 February 10, 1916. MT. Frank E. Robins, Editor.
 Conway, Arkansas.
 Dear Sir-In response to your recent request, our publicity depart ment has forwarded copy of proceed ings of National Conference on Con- crete Road Building. Your letter has recently come to the attention of the road department of this association. The proceedings contains a large amount of technical information, and in order to give you some further practical information on this type of construction, We are sending you some additional literature.
 ''Hhe situation in your section un- doubtedly requires special attention as with the assessed valuation of property, as mentioned in your letter 1t would be impossible to build an ex tensive system of roads of any type We would be glad to hear from you concerning existing road laws fol your county which might give the maximum allowable funds from 6 road tax.
 The average cost of concrete high ways stated in our advertisement re. fers to one mile of 16-foot road. The average cost, however, indicates gen eral conditions and each piece of work should require a careful esti. mate based on knowledge of local con- ditions, such as length of haul, cost of labor, cost of materials, source of water supply, etc. New York state has built large mileage of concrete highways at an average cost of $9,- 500 per mile of 16-foot road. Fort Smith, Ark, has built some excellent concrete pavements at cost of 90 cents per square yard. This would be approximately $S,5OO per mile of 16-foot road
 "We believe that the traffic condi- tions in your section would not re- quire road of greater width than 10 feet. The narrowest concrete road of which we have record are in Min nesota, the same being eight feet in width. There are numerous exam pies of concrete highways 10 feet wide. Lee county, Mississippi, has recently completed F miles of nine foot concrete road at an extreme low cost of $6,l00 per mile. As your county owns traction engine, the cost of hauling would be materially reduced by the use of trailers, saving would be effected by the use of the crusher operated by the county.
 We cannot advise you concerning the use of your local sandstone for concrete highway construction. The absence of bonding qualities would not affect it's value as material for concrete. It is a question of dura- bility, for after all, it is coarse ag- gregate that must take most of the wear. For example, traprock is not the best stone for macadam high ways, but is an excellent material for concrete highway construction. There are various grades of sandstone. The United State office of public roads will make all necessary tests on your local material We can secure copy of the results of such tests and would be glad to advise you of the adapta- bility of the local stone for concrete.
 With reference to the proportions we beg to advise that our recommend