CONCRETE ROADS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume IV, Issue 429, 7 August 1915, Page 2

CONCRETE ROADS

A NATIONAL EXPERIMENT.

TO BE TRIED IN HAWKE’S BAY. REPORT BY THE COUNTY ENGINEER. The need for adopting some new method of road construction in New Zealand, thereby providing thoroughfares that will withstand the heavy traffic which is a sign of the times, is obvious. The County Council proposes to experiment with concrete —to lay down a strip of road that will be subject to heavy and continuous traffic. As this work will be of such a permanent nature —it is in reality a national experiment—the council wisely intends to ask the Government for a £1 for £1 subsidy. No public work could very well be of a more deserving nature, and it is, therefore. practically certain that the Government will make the necessary grant. The success of the experiment will revolutionise road-making in New Zealand. ENGINEER’S REPORT.

The County Engineer (Mr. C. D. Kennedy) previously placed the matter before the council, and has now submitted the following report, which will be considered at Monday’s meeting: “With reference to my proposition to experiment in the formation ot permanent roads in concrete. I have chosen a portion of the road between Napier and Awatoto on account of the handiness of suitable material and the facility for providing water, of which it is necessary to have a liberal supply in order to water the foundation and keep the concrete damp while curing. In the main points I propose to follow the lines laid down by the National Conference of American Road Engineers.

“My suggestion is to lay the con Crete to a width of 18 feet with macadam shoulders. 2ft on one side and 6ft on the other. The top of the concrete will be laid in circular shape with a rise of about 2.1 inches. Gin. thick at the sides and fi.lin in the centre. I recommend trying four different approved system “(a) A one-course road mixed I in 5 with expansion joints 25ft apart. ”|b) A two-course road, the bottom being of a leaner mixture and the top. or wearing surface of much .richer concrete, in the same lengths as above.

••(c) anil (d) Similar composition of concrete reinforced, but with longer distances between the expansion joints. “The expansion joints will be made of thin steel with arms projecting into the concrete, the two steel ends narrowly separated by ;• piece of tarred felt. “The cost of this class of road in the tir-i tii'ils will probably run to £Kii per eliaiti. “The Isft road is suitable for roads where the traffic is heavy. In the country a single rack of nine to eleven feet wide is sufficient.''