BETTER ROADS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 13, 15 July 1924, Page 7

BETTER ROADS

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir,—ln Saturday's ■" Post," 12th July, I read a very interesting article1 on i-oading which, aims at proper road foundations: the world's experience finds; this necessary.■ The writer suggests that; Koman roads' should be built on. lihe flats. I should like to' see .such solid roads,. but that class of road requires an army 'of labourers, which, is too costly at the present time.' However, experience shows that roads, must have I solid foundations, • and that such can be | obtained, quite economically by using I concrete properly. The writer desires to know the cost of a solid road; therefore the following may be of interest. j As a comparison of cost between bitu- J men and concrete, take the new Hutt I load bitumen track, which cost some'9s per square yard, 5 inches deep, or,! roughly, £7000 per mile for an 18-feet road. A concrete road'lß feet wide, 9 inches, deep, reinforced, costs '9s per square yard, and in many places less. Note: 9 f inches reinforced .is' equal to 14 inches unreinforeed; this is a very solid and permanent road, and could in many cases be of less depth. Nevertheless, it costs no more than "a top dressing of temporary bitumen. ' The cost of : some of the Auckland streets are:— .'.,■-. : Market' road, 7. inches thick, 8s per square yard, date laid 1918; Queen street, 8 inches thick,".9s per square yard, date laid 1918;' King's Wharf, 8 inches thick, 9s: per square yard, date laid 1918. With machine construction both English and American roads in many cases cost, less, therefore, with up-to-date machines and knowledge, 9-inch reinforced concrete roads should, on the average, be built for less than 9s per square yard m this country.' The cost depends great-' ly, upon what class °oi road is .laid. t As an example of what loads concrete roads will carry, I give the following: Three a-pads in Hunslet, 'Leeds, were laid in 1921; they are .Burton road, Grantroad, and Benga, street, width 26 feet--33 feet; thickusss, 6 inches-9 inches, reinforced with fabric, no expansion joints. The February, 1923, report states that the roads are good and 1 carrying loads by tractors up to 40 tons ■! gross. ■■ . Will the Hutt road carry such loads? The above are not the s heaviest loads that pass over English or American roads. Again, roads, constructed thous-1 ands of years B.C. were built to carry j SO tons, and more in some cases, and parts of some of these ancient roads are still in use. . " An example of economical . concrete road maintenance is that of Blackwoocl crescent, Edinburgh, laid in 1873, length 441 feet, width 33 feet, depth 9 inches, no reinforcement; the road has never Veen surfaced. Total cost of "maintenance £43 8s Id for 151 years, or equal | to £3 8s Id per mile per ■ annum for maintenance. This is only one of many economical roads. Concrete roads have been down in America for fifteen years, and cost nothing since laying. There are over 30,----000 miles .of concrete roads in America, and ;it present .being laid, at the rate of about 2000 miles per,annum. England is increasing her concrete roads very rapidly, finding" how economical they are, and how they < stand up to heavy loads and speeds: England and America are not laying these concrete roads without, sound rcaaorfs. It is' quite evident that the Hutt road method was out of date before it. was started. | I- think'the above should" settle all I doubt as to which is the right class of road to construct in New Zealand for main highways.1 If required, further data is available. Apologising, Sir. for asking for so much valuable" space in your paper, but hoping you can .find room and thereby assist in securing permanent and economical roads,-—1 am etc... • ' ■ • . ■ l'\ RICHAIiUSON. 14.1-iiJujjr, .:•■■■.-■