GOOD ROADS

Northern Advocate, 27 May 1921, Page 4

GOOD ROADS

AMERICA'S GREAT EXAMPLE

MELBOURNE OFFICIAL'S

REPORT

Mr Morton, the city surveyor of ; Melbourne returned recently from a ; visit of inspection to the United States, Canada, and Great Britain,', where he carefully investigated the ; latest principle s of road and street j making in each country. In a preliminary report on his investigations he gives it as his considered opinion that the best type of road is one of Australian hardwood blocks laid on concrete and topdressed with 'bitumen or asphaltum. The combined expenditure from Federal, State, and County fluids was almost £34,000 000 on road-making in the United States for the five years 1917 to 1921 inclusive. Mr Morton considers that the best road he saw on his travels v/a-s the Columbia River Highway, which was constructed with bitulithic pavement, though re regards the" tar- ' dressed macadam roads of England a s probably the best roads in the world, but is convinced that they would last but a short time under the traffic conditions oi America. j

In America Mr Morton stite-3, high . way construction is practically cor.-. fined to concrete and asphalt. The ' •American system of laying concrete , was a revelation to him, ;\s there w&a as much care taken in the prepar-. Riion of concrete as of asphal;. I'articular care was also takon in the "curing' , of the concrete roa.is. On flat grades they were put under water for two or three weeks, and ; on gradients, where this Wii 3 not t of,sible, they were covered with 2in. or 3in. of wet earth, whi?h w.t 3 kept consistently wet for uvo or three weeks. It was found that concrete road s laid under thes? careful toniMtions lasts: for ma-..' years- and; ware then suitable as foundations for j a?phalt surfac.s

Mr Morton emphasises the necessity . for a carefully considered scheme of roadmaking, covering a long series of years, and explains how this i a provided for in America by Federal grants and money raised specially .for road construction by State bond issues and county bond issues. The Federal Aid Road Acj of 1916 carried an appropriation of £15,000,000 to aid the States in the construction of rural roads, and £2, 000,000 to be spent m the construction of forest roads. The Federal grants were not to exceed 50 per cent, of the estimated cost of any road, and in no case was the cost of a road to exceed £2000 per mile, exclusive of bridges of more than 20fc clear span. -This 15,000,000 grant was increased in 1918 by £40,000, 000 payable in three years in instalments of £10,000,000 and 2 of £15, 000,000 and the 'limitation per mile increased to £4000.

This, says Mr Morton, enabled the United States to- put into effect the most comprehensive scheme of cooperation in roadmaking ever adopted by any nation. For the fiscal years 1917, 1918, nd 1919 £15,520,000 wa fi allotted for 48- States; for 1920, £18,430,000 and for 1921 £19,400 000. Seventeen States proposed aids amounting to £100,000,000 and nine States aids to the amount of £51, 360,000. Two hundred and four counties issued bonds to the amount of £31,822,400, and 650 counties bond_3 to the amount of £82,562,643.

"The experience in America.' , comments Mr Morton,, "is that a great volume of traffic immediately finds use for the newest type of highway, no matter where it may be. In tests for petrol consumption, over various types of road the concrete road came out supreme, twice the d!&tar.ce for \the same amount of petrol being the result of one test of concrete road a*gainst the best type of earth road, and if it could be determined the additional saving for less wear and tear on tyres and mechj anical parts due to the concrete . roads, a s well as the saving in hours, I days and years, it should prove that ! the American road policy represents* an investment of almost incalculable value." Mr Morton emphasises the fact that in both England and America it is recognised that the day of ordinary macadam as a contraction for main road surface is past. This statement was , , he says ; contained in a memorandum issued by the Ministry of Transport n England on experimental roads. Concrete roads wera first made in America 14 years ago, and as the result of prolonged tests under various conditions they are now being generally adopted. Before 1919 there were 6784 miles of concrete roads in the United States, but during 1919 contracts were placed for 3913 miles, and also large additional last year. Mr Morton says that in America contracts are let on a large scale, as the contractors will not waste time getting plant into posjttion for small length s of road, and he gives as ar. illustration the Arkansas-Louisiana highway contract s for 153 miles, 111 of which is to be asphaltic-concrete on a cement base.

I Mr Morton concludes his preliminary report by pointing out that the economic advantages following the construction of good road s include a substantial decrease in the cost of of haulage, therefore, cheaper cost of machinery, and other farm re quirements, and the cheaper cost of getting their farm products to market, whilst both combined lead to increase in the value of farm land. The towns and citie s benefit by the big increases in tourist traffic. Amongst the social advantages mentioned are improvement of schools, as better road s tend directly to higher average attendance. Then there is an improvement in the rural mail and general delivery service, and an all-round improvement in the social amenities in the rural districts, as good roada make the interchange of visits more easily accomplished.