FIVE YEARS TO-DAY

Evening Post, Issue 145, 22 December 1928, Page 11

FIVE YEARS TO-DAY

jifIUTT ROAD PAVING NO POTHOLES YET PBOOF OF THE PUDDING . On. 22nd December, 31)20, five years ago to-day, the first serious bituminous paving work was done in tho Wellington district, in "the commencement of surfacing of the Ilutt road. Since then roughly '10 miles of paving (calculated „on the standard width of 3S feet) have ' boon laid under the direction of the ' City and Suburban Highways Board, ; and approximately 50 miles (including some tar macadam) under tho City Council. Taking into account sealing v. work f , the total surfacing put down . during .the past six years—the city " programme was sot under way in 1922 ". —is equivalent to just on 100 miles of • standard 18-foot ,'surfacing. It will bo remembered that early in the days of bituminous paving all sorts of disaster were forecasted for.the Hutt. road, but so far not oiie penny has been spent on it for maintenance. ". 'Tho paving of the Hutt road " was actually commenced, but in a small ' way only, on 14th December, 1923, with ■material turned- out from the old '.macadam plant at Clyde quay, the first of tho big plants not being ready for work until the 23rd. There were plenty of .doubts about the whole business tlienj.no'other bituminous work had been done on a big scale in New Zealand, and, apart from difficulties of applying text-book technique, controversy waxed almost furious. An American plant expert came to Wellington 4o see that the right bits went in the right place, and stayed on for three or ' four months to lend a hand with advice. . EARLY TROUBLES. The first day's output was uii'ler 700 square yards of surfacing, which was a trem.-.ruloas ;jump from tho best the converted macadam plant had been able to do, but was still not too bright; everybody was new to tho job, - various . complications arose, it was generally a hot and bothery time. With- | in a few weeks the several crews got ' right down to business and the output . climbed to 1400 square yards, which | meant real travelling along the road. Then the pothole scare was launched: i He stuff was poor; the methods employed not a bit better, the staff knew not I ho first thing about its job. In short, ; in. two years' time there would be no pavement left, and a £5 wager was made that already there wero potholes, any number of them. The American expert took that wager up, and in duo timo the funds', of the Pluukcf Society benefitted by £5. Since then not much has.been heard of, potholes, and, by the look of tho road to-day, nothing will bo heard of them for quite a timo to coino. _ THE MEN WHO DID THE JOB. During the second season a second mixing plant was installed and work started in the Hutt Valley, and later round tho bay roads of the city. The ' two-plant organisations worked hard against each' other, and as a result of their rivalry put up plant output | figures which far exceeded the cata- I Joguo outputs of their misers. The J enthusiasm of tho men was an outstanding feature of the work, a fact that was fully appreciated,by the officials of tho engineer's department. Later again, when two moro plants were purchased, the " crew rivalry continued keener than Vver,1 and'to-day the Same spirit'is setting up progress records in Uio work (by contract) on beyond Johnsonville. . '' It was inevitable that some errors would be made in so big a job as was undertaken, and there was extensive repair and replacement work in Thorndon quay, and some resurfacing of short lengths at Petono and Lower Hutt. i The trouble in Thorndon quay arose' from the trying of- a new mixture, not a good mixture, and elsewhere, almost without exception,' the ■faults developed as a consequence of a sinking of tho road foundation. Since then the department is "wise to" foundation requirements, and laboratory tosts of crndo materials and of mixed materials arc now part of every day's work. Paving is now on a scientific , basis. COST AND WEAR. Tn the last five- years the traffic volume has increased to about four times 'what it was, and it is still going up. Heavy maintenance of the old Hutt road failed signally to keep the surface fit for traffic, so one can judge what would have-been the state of tho road to-day under tho pounding of so great an increase- in ear and lorry traffic. Possibly, however, one should not aTgue in that way, for it is certain that good roads brought much of that increase. The cost worked out at undor 10s per square yard, a figure which still stands as a standard of road paying astonishment. Those who may insist that the figure is fay . too high might considor for a' moment what would have been the cost of1 laying just -two layers of tho very cheapest linoleum over each square yard of the road. The lino, might have looked brighter, but what of the-wcar? It "was anticipated'whon the work was done that a rejuvenating sealing coat would be roquirca in five years, at a cost of threepence or. fourpence per square yard, but the engineers are more • inclined to think that the resealing is still two or three, perhaps even still five, years ahead. Only in one short length is there any wear of this thin aoaling of straight bitumen. Towards the Potone end ;Of tho road there is a length where the sealing has bunched up somewhat, but there is not much doubt that that was due to the fact that tho work was carried on, in order that there should bo an end to winter mud, until May of 1924, when the weather was so cold that it was most difficult to spread tho last coat thinly. Provision was made in the original specifications for mt edging of concrete to onsuro that tho bitumen should not broak inwards, but in fact only two short lengths of the edging were laid, one near Kaiwarra and tho other to- . wards Pctono. To-day not much of the original width of five inches is loft, for I \ traffic-has scored and ground away this ' kerbing till it is nearer two inches wide lhan five. Markings along the edgo of the plain bitumen havo shown, however, fhnt the wearing back is practically nil. The concrete edging idea will not bo revived in Wellington. What is said of the manner in which the Hutt road pavement is standing up to traffic is generally true of all bituminous surfacing; the work has, provrd a solid investment for the whole of the city and suburban area.