The Lamar register., 1922-06-07
DURABILITY OF PAVED STREETS
Properly Constructed Will Last the
Lifetime of Generation and
More.

lection applies only where inspection
is lax and faulty construction is allow
ed to be done by the contractors. That
such work even of the lightest con-
struction can be made to last for a
generation is evidenced by the follow
ing taken from the report of a form
er chief of the U. S. bureau of public
roads about paving in New York City
where the travel may possibly be even
heavier than in Lamar.
at is probable that such pavements
will be given considerable attention in
the 1922 program of some of our east
ern states owing to the remarkably
results obtained over
long period of years in the west. Many
of these pavements are six inches or
less in total thickness.
What we have learned in the last
few years about the destructive effect
of traffic impact and the resistance to
impact offered by semi-flexible and
highway structures has a pc
culiar Significance in connection with
a great economic problem; that of con-
serving cur investment in old roads,
gravel and macadam,
when it becomes necessary to adopt
higher type of wearing surface. Prior
to the careful investigation of this i'm
portant subject there existed marked
and growing tendency to discredit the
use of old gravel and macadam roads
for foundations for the higher types
and this in spite of many remarkable
service records of macadam founda-
tions. For example, in the city of
New York a number of the most heay-
lily Travelled streets were constructed
years ago on macadam foundations
and some are still giving satisfactory
service. In 1880 Broadway, between
Fifty-ninth and Seventy-ninth streets,
was paved with asphalt over an old
macadam base and for twenty-five
years gave good service. Its replace
ment at the end of this period was
largely due to subway excavations.
street, paved in a sim
liar manner, also gave twenty-five
years of service under increasingly Sc
we're traffic conditions and the same
is true for a nineteen-year period for
Fifth avenue between 10th and 12Oth
streets. Lrnox avenue between 10th
and l2ith streets was surfaced with
asphalt over old macadam in 1904 and
is still giving good service. The cost
of maintaining this section in 1913
fourteen years after construction-was
only per cent certainly a remarkable
record. Many similar cases might be
cited from various localities"
Also the following in regard to
brick paving taken from one of the
leading engineering journals Of the
country:
First Brick Paved Street.
Charleston, West Virginia, claims
the distinction Of being the first city
in the United States to use brick for
street paving Although brick had
been used to pave streets in European
countries, principally Holland, for
nearly a century, they were not tried
in the United States until 1871.
Brick were used in Biblical times.
They were used by the Romans. Parts
of the famous Chinese wall, still stand
ing, are of brick. Holland has brick
streets more than 100 years old
"In 1871 Charleston paved Summers
street with building brick. These, of
course, were not to be compared with
the hard burned vitrified brick used
for paving purposes today, but never
theless they served satisfactorily for
3S years.
"The state museum at Charleston
has on exhibition the first brick laid
in the street, from which not more
than one inch was worn in the gen
Grafton it served. In 1894 Quarter
street was paved with brick and, al
though 27 years old, is still in good
condition today. The brick were laid
on base of three inches of sand, one
inch of tarred oak planks and sec
ond three-inch layer of sand"
EYE. EAR. NOSE AND THROAT