ROAD CONSTRUCTION

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 101, 26 October 1925, Page 7

ROAD CONSTRUCTION

BITUMEN VERSUS CONCRETE

TENDENCY TO ADOPT THE

FORMER

(FltOlt OUR OW« CORRESPONDENT.)

LONDON, 3rd September.

Discussion on the respective merits ,of concrete and asphalt roads has begun again in. the London dailies. A member of the.lnstitute of Civil Engineers, writing to the "Morning Post," gives his reasons) for believing in the superiority of the aspiialt. "For'entirely new* roads which can be left to, mature for some months before traffic is allowed upon them," ho says, "an engineer would be justified in laying an all concrete, road, but in such cases he wouild ho well advised to bnild his road at such levels as. will permit an asphalt surface being su&erirffip.Qsecl .upon the concrete, should it fail when .subjected to traffic. This suggestion is no theoretical or propagandist idea of one interested, in asphalt or the sale thereof, but it is the practice now adopted by tho most experjeuced an?i prominent rpad engineers of the day in this country. .

"The question has been asked .in the Press: 'Wfey do we in this country continue to rodopt antiquated methods ,of road co.nstiructi.on, and why do .wa not follow the- practice pi our American friends in laying cement concrete?' It .is sufficient answer to say that .w.hat is one man's meat is another nun's pojson. Concrete nr.ay be satisfaction in the U.S.A., although thoso of uss who hav.e seen concrete roads in the States are definitely of! .opinion that t'h,e standard tjiere is not on a sufficiently' high plane to satisfy the British public. Two of ,the most prominent of our courrty .engineers have in recent years visited tho-States, and there studied the road question. They were certainly unbiased, and if they were convinced of what our cement friends would have,us belieyc, one wo.uld expect to find the roads of which t,hey have charge surfaced with concrete, but it is not so. They, tho responsible .officials to, important highway authorities, continue to adopt the methods most favj qured by English engineers who, .having. | experience of our traffic and; ,climate, have ' come to the conclusion that surfaces ,of >■■ a bituminous nature are most economi--1 cal and satisfactory for conditions pertaining here. N&W WORK IN AMERICA "If asphalt surfaces are out of date, as the cement enthusiasts would have us believe, why were there 125,000,000 square ytarcls of asphalt laid in 1 the United States in the year 1924, and only ,88,000,----000 squa.re yards of cement concrete? Ou,r roa^l engineers are no ■ fools; they are competent of forming sound opinions. When cetment propagandists are prepared to acoepjt responsibility for their work, as asphakters do and have done for years, then those responsible for highway maintenance will believe that cenfent manufacturers'- have confidence in their wares. "It is just possible that the sound common-sense with which the British are endowed may be at fault in the matter I of road construction, but if this is so■ jit is-strange .that in practically every civilised country in the world where tho value'of roads is appreciated asphalt is being laid in increasing quantities. "Where traffic consists of rubber and steel-tired traffic, as it does in this country, road j surfaces must be laid which will not suffer from abrasion, and no one ■can honestly say that cement concrete fills the bill in this respect." .85, Fleet Street.