Middletown transcript., 1916-12-02
GOOD
ROADS
VALUE OF CONCRETE ROAD
Engineer Compares It With Other
Types Of Highways and Shows Its
Many Advantages.

"a concrete road will tend to pull
any community out of the mud and
stay out" according to A. N. Johnson,
highway engineer, who for a number
of years was connected with the Office
of public roads, United States depart
ment of agriculture.
In. speaking on the subject Of con-
crete roads, their construction and
value to a community, he said:
"Clean, hard, well graded sand and
pebbles or crushed stone, mixed with
cement and water to form a mass Of
quaky or jellylike consistency, even
| tuaIly hardens into stone. When such
a mixture is laid so that slabs 16 feet
wide by from 80 to 30 feet long are
formed, you have a pavement with
durable, non-skid surface making pos
sible higher traffic speed with large
loads drawn by fewer horses or less
tractive pOwer-a road open to traffic
365 days in the year-briefy, con-
crete road.
Successful concrete road cOnstruc>
ton requires first, proper preparation
of q foundation or Subgrade. This
means cOmpacting the soil where the
concrete is to be laid and providing
drainage so that water will not remain
under the concrete slabs. Upon the
properly prepared foundation concrete
is placed in one or two layers or
courses. This means that some con-
crete Roads are built after what is
known as the one-course construction.
''The first consists of q relatively rich
concrete mixture throughout; the Sec
Ond of a somewhat leaner mixture for
q base, with a richer top or wearing
course applied before the concrete in
the base has commenced to harden.
Usually where the slabs forming con-
crete road are greater than 16 feet
wide, or where the roads must cross
low, frequently wet and hence poorly
drained spots, re-enfoTcing in the form
of mesh fabric is embedded in the con-
crete while placing. This assists to
prevent the slabs from cracking, either
as the result of settlement of the fOun-
dation or from the heaving due to frost
actiOD
High wearing quality Of the con-
crete road results from using prop
erly graded, clean, hard sand and
crushed rock or pebbles. These must
be combined with cement and water in
proper proportions. Cement makes a
firm binder. It holds the sand or brok-
en- stone so tightly together that mod
ern traffic produces but little wear on
the surface and cannot diSlodge the
particles.
Concrete roads cost in the neigh
bOrhOOd of $4,000 per mile to build
When built the cost of keeping them
in repair, owing to the permanence
of concrete, is an average Of only $50
per mile. The enormous annual saving
in the maintenance of q concrete road
compared with other types is shown BY
statistics gathered from Massachu-
setts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New
Jersey and New York for eight years.
These combined statistics show total
average cost per mile of $60S for main
tenance of roads built with material
other than concrete, while q concrete
road costs only an average of $50 per
mile per year.
Reduced to an average basis and
distributed over a period of 20 years
under a $1,500,OQ0 bond issue, the av-
erage cost of a concrete road to
farmer living on land valued at $30.C3
per acre is 8A cents per acre per year.
This estimate is based upon proposed
concrete road construction in Vermili0n
county, Illinois, and Vermilion county
has just accepted bids for 141 miles Of
concrete highway. Distributed over
period of years and equalized among
the farmers and taxpayers who are
thus enabled to reach their market
town 365 days in the year-and more
quickly than ever befOre-with larger
loads drawn by fewer horses, the cost
of concrete road is negligible. So
concrete road is relatively cheap be-
cause profitable investment"