CONCAVE STREETS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 18 April 1910, Page 3

CONCAVE STREETS.

A REMEDY FOR MUD-SPLASHING. (Correspondent in London "Times.'') The authorities are beginning to realise how serious mud splashing in the London streets has become. There is hardly a pavement in London on which the pedestrian can walk on a wet day without the risk of being splashed by passing vehicles. Owing to the presence of dirty and insanitary macadam, and stretches of other dirty roads in the midst of wood and asphalted pavemented streets, the mud originating on the former sections is spread over surfaces which would otherwise remain clean.

THE MODERN PAVEMENT. It would be unreasonable to expect {hat either in town or in country remedies can at once be found for this state cf things, whether by laying down dust less road metal or by the use of some palliative top dressing such as tar. It is worth while to discuss how the shape of the roads and the material of which they are made may be altered so as to meet the demands of the increasing traffic, chiefly of a mechanical nature, which now uses-them. In the case of town roads it is rather a strong statement to make, but it is none the less true, that nearly every street in modern towns is constructed on the wrong principle—that is. it is made convex instead of concave in shape. Were town roads slightly concave, there would be no mud near the pavement at all. As things are now. the pavement is nearest the lowest part of the road, whereas it should be at the highest point of the road. A concave road would also enable slow traffic to keep quite spontaneously to the highest and therefore the easiest part of the road for the horse to pull its load. Another disadvantage of convex roads is that every j particle of refuse is swept up close to the edge of the pavement, in some cases beint; actually deposited in part on the ' pavement, and it thus blocks up the gul--1 lies and drains, and even floods the paye- ■ nient with water when the street is being ; washed or a sudden storm of rain desi cends. Smells, too, if any arise from ! the gratings, are close to the houses and the doors leading into them. In a con- ' cave street they would be as far away as possible in the centre of the roadway. Cab stands for horse vehicles, it is true, ' are gradually becoming things of the 1 past, but they may yet for some years lie sources of nuisance and pollute many 1 of our roads with manure, which, were the gutters in the centre instead of at the sides, would soon pass away into the proper drains without running over the road at each side. In a few cases in London special drains have been made for this purpose and a portion of the ' road to this extent has been made conrave. But these instances are few and far between. The result of the oldfnshioued convex construction is that all dirtv water and mud thus collects on the sides where the pedestrian passes, and at a point also where travellers alight when descending from vehicles or driving up to houses or shops for business or. pleasure. A gulf of liquid mud some two or three inches in depth often separate o the pavement from the roadway. These are some of the inherent disadvantages of the convex system of road-making in towns, as regards the wayfarers and frontagers. In addition, there is always the question of expense to be considered, and it is obvious that with such a concave street one drain would serve instead of two, with one set of gratings and one system of con-

necting sewers with the main sewers beneath In fact, there is everything to ] be said in favour of concave streets in towns, and very little in favour of the present convex form . CLEAN V. DIRTY SURFACES. j Moreover as regards street .surfaces, macadam-and gravel should as far as possible be abolished, in Central London at any rate. It is vain, to try to keep wood pavement or asphalte clean when dirty macadam is situated on side. If the mud of London be analysed, even in those streets which are most remote from these old-fashioned surfaces, it will be found to consist of half animal excreta, arising from horses, dogs, efc., and about half of detritus of road stones, of granite or gravel origin. Half therefore of such mud is br.ought from a distance upon the naturally clean surface of the non-muddy road by the hoofs of horses, by the boots of pedestrians, and by the wheels of carriages, the nrst twr being the most important'methods by which itjs conveyed. The contractors to certain districts and councils in London are also responsible for a certain degree of dirty mud, because instead of providing clean sea sand of rather a coarse nature .which is the material that should be used for scattering over the roads, they provide dirty and round gravel stones of far too large a size for real usefulness. Until crushed by horses' hoofs or by the iron bands of tires, these small rolling stones only make a slippery road more treacherous. Also too often earthy matter is present in such material. If "a model is desired, the entrances to some of the .Japanese towns filed roadways exist will serve, ihere. where a method of street laying of comparative antiquity still exists, all vehicles have to pass through a shallow running stream of water, 20 to 30 yard.in length, which has the effect of washing the dirt off the wheels and hoofs alike. This system might often be adopted where the ordinary dirty road metal such as macadam at the entrances to London abuts on the clean system cf wood-paving or asphalte. In this matter the West can learn from the East, to its great advantage. Mud and dust, like the poor, we shall always have with us. but the alleviation of the nuisance which owing to the rapid increase of mechanical vehicles is in creasing, should be studied. It is a mat ter not of luxury, but of necessity, that something should be done.