BETTER ROADS.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XII, Issue 233, 14 September 1922, Page 7

BETTER ROADS.

A TARANAKI EXPERT’S VIEWS. At the meeting of the Makara County Council recently a report was read from Mr C, Skitrop, a Taranaki engineer, on the construction of roads and their i|aintenance, “The problem which all counties are now facing,” said Mr Skitrop, “is that of maintaining roads, which, when first constructed, were not suited to carrying the present amount of traffic. The water-bound macadam road was quite capable of carrying the traffic of, Say, eight or ten years ago, which chiefly consisted in slow-moving horse-drawn vehicles; but with the advent of the motor-driven vehicle these roads have proved a failure. The three materials used in the construction of modern roads are cement, concrete, bituminous asphalt, and tarred macadam. M Tarred macadam roads, proceeded Mr Skitrop, as laid down in parts of Taranaki, had greatly reduced the cost of maintenance in that province, but not to a minimum. These roads had to be top-dressed every two years, and, in some cases, once every year. The average yearly cost for 'maintaining these Taranakai roads was from £l2O to £l5O per mile. Auckland city was the home of concrete roads. No doubt they were good roads, but costly in construction. They were also too slippery for horse traffic. Bituminous asphalt was first used for road construction in New Zealand in 1913, the writer continued. The Ney Plymouth engineer made three experiments with concrete, bituminous asphalt, and tarred macadam on por; tions of the same road. After 18 months., the concreted portion had to be top-dressed as it proved* to be too slippery for horse traffic, and also it had begun to pit and fray. The tarrdd macadam . had had to be frequently top-dressed since first laid down, and was now almost worn out, while the bituminous asphalt had not cost a single penny for maintenance since 1913, and up to May last was Btfll in first-class order. Bituminous asphalt roads were cheap compared with other roads, and required no maintenance whatever for nt least from six to ten years. Four inches of bituminous asphalt laid on a solid dry clay foundation would carry more traffic than would eight inches of ordinary water-bound macadam. The great objection that people had to bituminous asphalt roads was due to the fact that they look like tarred roads, and tar roads had been proved a failure. Bituminous asphalt roads, were elastic and acted like a hard/ rubber tire, permitting a firm hold being obtained by horses. These roads were becoming very common now in America.