The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1916-10-05
STANDARD ROAD
At LAST DEVISED
Hit or Miss Methods Of Con-
struCtiOn to Be Abandoned.
IT WILL Be ECONOMICAL.

This Newest Type of Road Combines
the Best Properties of Three Types
of iehways-Monroe County, Michr
Was First to Build Under the New
Plan.
The American standard road has at
last been devised, and when adopted
generally it will mean relief from the
uneconomic hit or miss methods attend
ing present construction of m1scella-
ncous types of roads. 1t infringes upon
no patents and wipes out the costly
competition between manufacturers OF
road materials, thus effecting saving
of $1,000 to $1,000 Il mile in the cost OF
permanent roads The American stand
ard road IS cvcrybody's road from the
standpoint of satisfactory service ana
economy. 1t is nobody's road in the
sense implied by the use Of single
material. 1t combines the best prop
critics of three types of familiar reads
the stone of the old macadam road,
the asphalt of the bituminous macadam
road and the portland cement of the
concrete road.
The stone, of course, is used through
out The cement is used for CON
crete foundation and the natural as
phalt for an asphalt macadam wearing
surface Thus each surface is CON
fined to the purpose to which 1t Is
best adapted Monroe county, Mich,
is building forty miles of the new type
of road for less than $4,000 mile.
And this price includes Il six inch con-
crete curb at the sides of the five inch
concrete base. The specifications also
call for two inch Bermudcz or nat
ural asphalt 'macadam wearing sur
face, so as to insure resilient and
lasting top adapted to both horse and
motor traffic The Michigan road will
cost $1,000 mile less than an all con-
crete road. The price of the latter,
according to the latest announcement
of the Portland Cement association, Is
now $4,000 mile.
But the Michigan road was not de-
vised as an experiment. A few exam
pies of the type were built years ago,
thus affording long time tests, some
of them covering a period of ten years.
However. experience with separate
types Of roads has shown that in the
case of country roads subjected to
horse and motor traffic asphalt mac
adam makes an ideal wearing surface.
while it has also been demonstrated
that no foundation material exceeds
concrete in durability and strength,
Hence the combination not only makes
for efficiency but low initial cost and
minimum maintenance. The latter i'm
portant economies are obtained through
simplified methods of construction and
by reducing the quantities of cement
| and asphalt required for separate types
| of roads, but without sacrifice of sta
| bility and satisfactory service.
Thus there is available at last Il per
manent road of approximately the cost
of water bound macadam. a type of
| highway that will become still cheaper
when methods of construction are
thoroughly standardized. These roads,
with their attractive and elastic as
phalt wearing surfaces, sharply de
fined curb lines and unyielding con
crete foundations, will become the
rule once the public learns of their
low initial cost. No desirable feature
of any other type of road has been
eliminated. The composite road can
not be transformed into mud or dust
No boulevard or park road presents a
more even and attractive surface. Its
adoption will simplify matters for the
engineer and contractor making good
results more certain, but most impor-
tant is the saving to the taxpayer
through greatly reduced initial cost
and low maintenance.