CONCRETE V. BITUMEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19289, 30 March 1926, Page 9

CONCRETE V. BITUMEN.

Sir.—Since my arrival in New Zealand last. January, l'noto that there has been considerable controversy on the above .subject, and I fee] that tho letter appearing in Friday's Herald calls for the enlightenment of Another Ratepayer" through the "medium of your columns. v : ; Some of the statements made bv your correspondent- are misleading.- due perhaps to the literature from which his information was gleaned. His ideas in rei gard to the respective costs could he easily set right by reference to the city engineers respectively of Auckland and Wellington, or by any of Auckland's leading consulting engineers. Bituminous concrete roading is to-day the r most economically sound paving in service, capital outlay and movement, with the lowest maintenance of all classes of modern roads. In support of this contention it may interest ratepayers generally to know that the Ministry of Transport of Great Britain has adopted bituminous .concrete paving after careful experiment and full inquiry as to cost and other advantages, and . during past three years has laid many hundreds of miles of bituminous concrete roads. Surely it must be conceded that such a procedure would not bo adopted whore traffic conditions are so heavy without-the very best of reasons. In some instances bituminous concrete roads have been down in Great Britain for 20 , years with practically no maintenance cost. In Brightside 'Lane, 'Sheffield, England, a 2in. bituminous concrete surface, laid on macadam foundation,' has successfully withstood tho transport over it of steel castings up to 112 tons, phis the waggons drawn by five large tractors'. I have with me a sampio of the road after such traffic, together with a photograph of the actual occurrence, which I would be glad to make available to those interested. Road Engineer;