The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1921-06-30
Ninety Days
and Nothing Done
REPAIRING THE PAVEMENT
FREE OF COST


Some four years ago the Mcguire
Construction company laid sixteen
blocks of bitulithic pavement in the
business district in BlackfoQt, and
now they are welding on some new
top coating wherever any defects are
showing, either from wear or abuse
of whatever cause, and are doing II
Of their own accord without any ex.
pense to the city or owners of the
abutting property.
They guaranteed their work for
five years, but that of course applied
only to work that might be defective
in construction or materials, and 1t
seems generous and gratifying treat
ment to have lot of the surfaces
made new when we do not claim that
it was defective in the sense covered
by the guarantee.
Sometimes a heavy car parked on
the paving on hot day sinks
slightly into the warm taffy-like
substance, and if the driver throws
ON the power and starts it with a
whiz of the wheels it leaves an in
denture that does not iron out
smooth again. Sometimes a heavy
truck comes thru the streets with
chains on, pounding the pavement
terribly under its load. The weight
of local trucks is three tons or over
and they carry as high as four and a
half tons, making about $4,000
pounds resting on four wheels. Add
20 hnf thn ne nh In
on the wheel with $500 pounds on
the chain and it striking the paving
with sledge-hammer blow varying
with the speed of the truck, and we
have the measure OF the punishment
being applied to the paving. Mar
row tired wagons sometimes carry
5000 pounds per wheel and they have
a heavy cutting force. After four
years of this kind of service it is no
wonder that when the flusher has
passed over the paving and washed 1t
clean, there should be spots here and
there the size of a persons hand that
are cupped enough to hold a thin
sheet of water.
A question we should be concerned
condition of the paving If we had laid
cement and had it subjected to the
heat and cold and all this whizzing
and pounding. Would it be cracked
or bulged or broken thru? If so
would the contractors come back and
weld on something SO perfectly that
we could not find the weld? And
would it stay put if this were done?
So far as we can learn, the con-
tractors who lay cement paving, do
not come back and face the millions
of little checks that show up in their
work in two or three years, nor do
they feel concerned if it is going to
decay at faster gait than that. They
are not defending the reputation of
any particular brand or quality of
cement work of which there are end
less varieties according to the
amount Of cement used per yard and
the kind of sand and gravel used,
whether coarse, slick, dirty or clean.
And once it is broken it does not
weld even if repairs are attempted.
This is a live subject for the peo-
pie of Bingham county to study. 1t
is timely to study because on two oc-
casions the town has been embroiled
in solving the problem of whether to
pave with cement or bitumen, and
once for long period the county was
embroled in the study as to cement,
bitumen or earth roads with crushed
rock top Or no topping at all.
This office has been as much puz-
zled over these matters as others,
and we have been impressed with the
fact that the makers of patented
bitulithic pavement have a product
to make SO it can sustain it's reputa-
lion, and the firm holding the patents
On the process, and all their con-
tractors have a product and a reputa-
lion to protect and defend, and the |
repairs now being made on the pave
ment in Blackfoot are part of such |
defense of product and reputation.
We suggest that people study these
matters carefully because this county
and its cities and towns will lay fifty |
times as much hard surfaced roads
in the next ten or twenty years as