The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1919-05-30

Profiting by the experience o
Wayne county and other section
where concrete highways have beef
in use for many years, road builders
now advocate paved width of no
less than 10 IT, for main line high
ways carrying heavy traffic and {
width Of 20 #. wherever it is at al
possible to make the necessary add.
tional investment. The ordinary mo.
tor car is slightly more than it. in
width and the average motor truck
is apt to be somewhat wider than
that; thus, it is seen that pavement
having width of but 16 IT. does not
give very comfortable margin at
clearance when vehicles pass each
other at speeds above Is or 20 miles
per hour.
The present standard practice de-
velops the fact that concrete pave
ment mixed in the proportions of 1
volume of cement, volumes of sand
and 3 volumes Of stone should have
a thickness of 6 in. at the edge of
the pavement and in the center.
This gives a curved surface or
Grown" as it is technically called
which sheds the water perfectly and
still is so imperceptible that no dis
comfort is occasioned to occupants of
vehicles driving on the road at the
higher speeds.
The question is often raised as to
whether the necessary investment to
pave with concrete all of the connect
ing highways of given county is a
good one or not. An answer to this
is found in some recent tests which
were conducted by the Portland &C.
ment Association with the cO-opera-
ton of the White Motor Car Co. on
the highways near Cleveland. Sever
eral sections of highway were select
ed, some Of which were natural earth
roads in good condition, others were
surfaced with gravel, macadam and
other types of surfacing up to the
modern concrete pavements. string
Of five 2-ton trucks were used in this
series of tests, and the results in gaso-
line consumption were averaged for
repeated runs by all five vehicles over
all of these different sections of high
way. The economy in operation of
trucks over the different pavements
Is disclosed by the average mileages
obtained from a gallon of gasoline.
1t was found that on the ordinary dirt
road in good condition the average of
all the tests was SIS miles per gallon,
while on the concrete pavements 11.7S
miles were obtained from a gallon of
fuel. A very marked difference was
noted in the case of the gravel and
macadam surfaces, all of which were
in fair condition, although of course
they gave better mileage than was
obtained on the earth road.
These tests confirm in striking
way similar results obtained by ex-
tensive tests of the Federal Truck Co.,
and they also follow very closely re-
suits of tests by Professor ]. B. David
son of the California College of Agri-
culture, which we're made near Sacra-
mento in 1917. 1t is thus shown that
the fuel consumption necessary to
move motor propelled traffic over con-
crete paved roads is less than half
that required to move it over ordi-
nary dirt and gravel roads. Motor
truck operators of a community or
state can afford to pay increased H..
censes, at least an amount equal to
this saving In fuel cost, as a sinking
fund to-retire the interest and prin-
cipal on the cost of the Improvement
of highways. They will still be ahead
of the game by reason of the savings
In tires, wear and tear on the ma
chimes and the saving of time that is
effected by reason of being able to
make better speeds. This is exactly
the principle that is being applied
In the case of the great 100000, 900
highway bond issue OF Illinois. One
Of the favorite arguments that used
to be advanced for good roads was the
convenience to the farmer and the in
creased opportunity to market his
products. This argument Is Just as
good as ever, but perhaps you may
not all be familiar with the way II is
working out We find In those COM
munities which have paved all Of
their main highways. developments In
this respect which have never been
for example, Indianapolis
the seat Of Marion county, has large
packing industry and stock yards
which draws its supply Of Hive stock
rom the surrounding territory. The