Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1916-10-18
Road Maintenance
CONTINUED from Last Week.

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Macadam is little harder to put
in shape and little harder to keep
in shape when it has heavy traffic
and when it shows slight ruts. You
cannot sprinkle on a little stone and
go away and leave it. In fact with
macadam road, the repair, when
all is told, is quite a scientific pro-.
position. There are times of year,
when rut is deep, when stone from
one to one and one-half inches lamp
ed in, covered with screenings and
brushed in carefully will bond down
under traffic. Ordinarily, however,
the best results are obtained by US
ing the roller, filing the ruts and
giving the road the same kind of
treatment exactly as in the original
construction. If the road shows
signs of travelling in the spring which
is particularly true of crushed cobble
stone, it should be rolled. Water will
pentrate macadam somewhat in win
ter. If it is an open winter the frost
action will have tendency to loosen
the bonding and the sharp shoes of
the horses will tend to pick up the
road. This can be best handled by
rolling as early in the spring as pos
sible.
Surface treatment for macadam
roads may be divided into two
classes, l. e., one for cobble stone and
one for the lime stone. In the case
of cobble stone road, owing to the
tendency of picking up, some kind of
treatment is necessary in order to
prevent the travelling. One of the
best materials / have seen used has
been a clay-gravel Care must be
used, however, with regard to the
clay. A gravel-sand mixture may be
used. 1t can be fine sand and gravel
provided the clay does not exceed 20
per cent of the entire mass. This
should be spread one-half to three
quarters of an inch deep, preferably
one-half. For general practice in
spreading on, however, most of the
clay-gravel should be spread in the
center and allowed to spread out over
the wheel track. This was first used
in this county of Calhoun out south
east of Marshall in Eckford township.
The question came up as TO how
best to hold the stone in place so
they experimental with sand-clay
and it gave very good results. OF
course it has to be applied every year
as the motor traffic and rain sweeps
it away.
Then, as to the treatment of the
water-bound limestone road, there
are tars and asphalts. You can spoil
road with these if you don't give it
the proper kind Of treatment. There
are some good tars and good asphalts
, on the market, and there are aslo
some other products that are sold
under the name of road oils that are
no good, because instead of having
binding property they have a sort
of lubricating property which is just
the opposite from that which we de-
sire to obtain. We want something
that will bond-that will be adhesive.
Troubles do not end there. however,
even with our best tars and asphalts.
If our road is not in proper condition
to receive them. there will be more
or less trouble. First of all be sure
that the road is in good condition.
Let us now consider what this condi-
ton is:
First, have a good ter-bound ma
cadam road to start with. You can
not bond your limestone down with a
lot of dust and clay and then give it
a surface treatment with the expecta-
tion that it will give first-class SER
vice. That Is the first thing. Then
let it season as long as you can with
out destroying the road. If it can go
through one winter or even it can
stand for two years all the better,
then your road becomes thoroughly
set and all becomes nearer like one
solid stone the longer it stands. The
best surface treated limestone maca-
dam road | have seen is north Of
Benton Harbor This particular road
is four or five years old and has been
used as water-bound macadam with
out any treatment. 1t was treated
two years ago and has the best sur
face treatment l have seen anywhere.
You almost have to dig into it to dis
cover that it is not asphalt.
The amount Of tar and asphalt to be
used is important. Ordinarily the
limit as to the amount of surface