TRAM TRACK CAMBERS

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 260, 29 July 1932, Page 13

TRAM TRACK CAMBERS

Flattening Proceeding OPERATIONS IN THE CITY An old idea in road and street construction was always to provide a good camber to assist the water to run off as quickly as possible into the water channels. Modern traffic does not favour the cambered road, because of its dangers. A motor-car is always more difficult to steer when travelling on a well-cambered road, as a great deal more attention has to be paid to the wheel than is the case on a flat road or one with an inappreciable camber. Up till the last year or two, even the space between the tramway tracks was given an appreciable camber, with the result that cars crossing such tracks at a right angle had to bump their way across. This fault in the inter-track ' spaces is being gradually remedied. The process may be seen in operation in Courtenay Place almost any day, where at the intersections of streets means are being taken to reduce the camber. This Is being don<? with the aid of a kerosene flarebox, which directs a fierce flame under air pressure on to the tracks until the bitumen melts, and even catches on fire. The scrapers are applied, and the softened bitumen is removed in mme places in Courtenay Place it has been found necessary to remove ucuri.s two inches of bituminous concrete from the centre of the tram tracks in order to flatten the surface and bring it level with the rest of the street surface