Honolulu star-bulletin., 1916-01-18
WARRENITEOR
CONCRETE With /.
PROPER SURFACE
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sible to give ones opinion in the mat
ter, and as | take it from your let
ter you simply wish short statement
i will try to render it.
You first state that your work is
i OF necessity all done under the as
+, sessment basis, and that ten-year
bonds are issued in payment for your
street work. Under these conditions
do not think you would be justified
in laying any pavement that would
not last longer than the life of your
bonds. You state first that Kalakaua
avenue is to be paved to the extent
of $4,000 square yards, and that the
original proposition was to pave this
with warrenite, but at the last meet.
/ ing of the Board of Supervisors it
was changed to a Gin. concrete road.
] believe this is mistake on the part
OF the supervisors. We in California
have built several hundred miles of
concrete roads, and, to say the least,
they are far from satisfactory The
initial experiments in this line were
made by the United States govern
ment in the Presidio in San Francis
CO. This is concrete road laid in
slabs of about 25 feet in length for
the full width of the road, which
| think is Is feet On a recent trip over
this road in an automobile l noticed
at every expansion joint at each side
OF the road the concrete is badly
cracked and deteriorating to a mark
ed extent. This road was built under
strict inspection, and according to the
specifications of the United States
government, and should have been a
shining example of concrete road,
IL such a thing is possible.
DO not misunderstood me as being
opposed to concrete roads-I am not
think that concrete base under
some conditions is the ideal road, al.
though no concrete road in California
that ! am aware of has been construct
ed and is giving complete satisfaction
unless it has been covered with a
wearing surface of some kind. The
thicker the wearing surface, the more
satisfactory the road. On the other
hand, we personally have built sew
IL
state Of asphalt concrete or warren
ite, which have been giving entire
satisfaction. visited yesterday
some 10000 yards of Warrenite pave
ment that was laid under our super
vision some six years ago. This pave
ment has never had five cents spent
on 1t to date and looks exactly the
same as when it was laid.
The state highway in California is
almost entirely constructed of a con-
crete base, and in some places is
straight concrete road with no wear
ing surface. Every one here believes
that within the next four or five years
1t will be necessary for the highway
commission to cover all of the so
called concrete roads with some type
of wearing surface, preferably btu
lithic or warrenite. While either of
the latter two types are little more
expensive than the so-called Topeka
and other types of wearing surface,
personally believe they are we'll worth
the additional investment.
I'VE have just recently finished
G0,0O0 yards of this type of pavement
for the City of Livermore. This is
a Pinch bitulithic surface on a 5-inch
concrete base, and / venture to say
this pavement will be in excellent
condition 20 years from now, and
with proper care will last indefinite-,
ly. / also believe that the state high,
way commission has made a serious
mistake in building the roads of con-
crete here only 4 inches thick.
Il also note your supervisors con-
template building concrete road s.,
inches thick. This, to my mind, is a
great deal wiser investment than a.
4-inch base. ! would, however, cover
the concrete with inches OF btu
lithic or warrenite top.
so far as ! know there has been
no complaint to be found with eith.
er of these types of pavement laid on
the coast, particularly California, the
last few years. There were one or
two faults found with some of this
class of pavement laid around Port
land, but in almost every instance ii
was due to improper inspection and
not to the type of pavement. AS you
probably know, the county commits
sioners of Multnomah let a contract
(the largest single contract ever let
in the United States west of the Mis-
sissippi river for 20 miles OF county
highway at cost of approximately
$S50.000. This highway is to be con-
structed of bitulithic pavement
throughout, and was decided upon