DEFECTS IN ROADS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21142, 28 March 1932, Page 11

DEFECTS IN ROADS.

ROUGHOMETER TESTS. IMPROVEMENT BY HONING. Poughometer tests find out that the deficiencies of paved road surfaces. This sensitive, instrument is fitted to a pneumatic-tyred motor-car which proceeds at an even 25-mile-an-hour pace along a road, and records the slightest undulation the surface offers. It was referred to by Sir. E. Palliser a t a meeting of the Wellington City and Suburban Highways Board last week. Mr. Pa Hi ser stated that exhaustive tests had been made in the South Island, with a view to (leterminmg the extent of the corrugations in bitumen-surfaced roads. The roughometcr had found fifty slight defects to the mile in the new concretcsur faced Sea view Road at eastern Tlutt, and the main Hutt Road between Wellington and Petone showed from 219 to 235 Lumps to tho mile. r J'hc surface of the road through the new Mount Victoria tunnel had been tested and showed 193 humps to (he mile. The Papanui Road, Christ church, after being "honed" by a road-planing machine, showed only 45 humps to (lie mile, and the Riccarton Road, which had registered 280, was reduced tn»so by the honing process. Ono of the worst paved roads over which the roughometer had passed, Mr. Palliser said, was the Petone Esplanade, which gave a record of 408 bumps to the mile. He mentioned the utility of tho roughometcr as he was afraid that the present system of treating road surfaces hy a top-dressing of bitumen and sand served only to preserve tho existing undulations, and made no actual improvement in the surface. lie thought that many of our roads wanted treating by the honing system. The city engineer, Mr. G. A. Hart, said lie knew of the system, which had originally been applied to railways, and had now been adapted to roads, lie was unable to say what the cost of the honing process was. 'the engineer is to report on tho roughometcr at the next meeting of the board.