Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1921-10-28

dppllcdllOHS. Ou ROADS Wnlcn nave
been treated for a number of years., an
application of only from one-fourth to
one-ffth gallon of bitumen to the
square yard is used, and from 100 toms
to 120 tons of stone chips to the mile for
a 15-foot macadam road. There is great
danger in too heavy or too frequent
use of surface treatments. Applied too
often or too heavily the bituminus ma
terial forms a mat of considerable
depth IN the surface. In warm wea-
Their, and under heavy traffic, the mat
begins to move and makes a very wavy
surface, and it has been demonstrated
~conclusively hat the use of heavy
trucks on a wavy surface very soon
causes the road to break through. A
comparatively smooth surface is abso-
lutely essential to the maintenance of
any road subjected to truck traffic.
Stone Piles at Roadside for
Maintenance
Another requirement, and a very
important one for adequate mainte-
DdlSO VI AdCdQdlu IOduSy 10 u udN0
along the road at convenient points,
for use of the patrolman, material for
patching any holes as soon as they de-
velop. Especially is this necessary in
the spring. In a climate such as
Maryland's the roads are frequently
covered with snow for a month or two
during the winter, and the use of
trucks and motor carr with chains
forms ruts in the surface which must
be patched as oon as the road thaws
out in the spring. 1t is, therefore,
absolutely necessary that material for
this patching be delivered on the road
in the fall. The need for early spring
patching has eliminated from consid-
Grafton as a patching material any
emulsions which deteriorate from
freezing. Regardless of how well these
emulsions are adapted to summer and
fall patching they are not used, be-
cause the possibility of not having ma
terial when it is needed in the spring
more than offsets any advantage they
possess at other seasons.
In conclusion, the writer believes
that Maryland's policy which makes it
necessary from time to time to i'm
prove her improved roads is funda-
mentally sound and correct. Under it
she has become one of the best
roaded" states of the Union. The i'm
provements which keep her moderate
priced roads continually up to date
cost far less than the high type roads
which elsewhere are being built to
carry traffic no heavier than her roads
carry. The Maryland plan starts with
a relatively small investment in adj
mittedly low-type road. By a pro-
cess of gradual improvement, by selec-
tive treatment of the weak places, it
builds up a better road from year to
year, always conserving the bulk of
the previous investment. 1t is a plan
which is more like the French plan
the United States. 1t differs sharply
from the method which attempts by
expenditure of vast sums to build at
once, forever.
Marylanders often wonder whether
the public which elsewhere pays the
high cost of so-called high-type roads
fully understands that the best pave
ments built today are not going to
give the service implied by the catch
word permanent" We wonder
whether there exists in the public
mind that wholesome doubt of the
'permanence" of such roads which in
Maryland makes maintenance" a big
ger word than construction" Ger
tainly, if this be not the case, if sutti-
Gent funds are not provided for main
tenance, and for reconstruction, when
necessary, this country is due for a
tremendous setback in road construc-
ton"
Salem County's policy of first gravel
and shell roads, and then, when traffic
demands, resurfacing with concrete,
closely approaches the Maryland idea.
AS they lack the splendid road gravel
with which Salem County is blessed,
they have naturally turned to water
bound macadam for their first con-
struction. Your predecessors did the
same in the vicinity of Pennsgrove,
when they built the Pedricktown-Nor-
tonville road and the road leading from
Pennsgrove toward S~harptown, now
known as the 7th section of the NAL
aga-Pennsgrove road.
The Pedricktown-Nortonville maca-
dam road you are still maintaining
with applications of asphalt or tar.
The 7th section of the Malaga-Penns-
grove road, being subjected to the sea-
shore traffic, you have widened and re-
surfaced with sheet asphalt.
Another article by Mr.. Mackall, ap-
pearing in the Engineering News Rec
ord of May 6, 1920, further explains the
policy of the State of Maryland.
Where Is Our Road Program Taking
Us?