Improved Methods of Road Maintenance

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26792, 8 June 1948, Page 3

Improved Methods of Road Maintenance

NORTH OTAGO NEWS

The question of maintaining road surfaces in the county is one of great importance to both ratepayers and the local authority, and any improvement in the methods of handling maintenance gravel and improving the running surfaces is of more than passing interest to users of the roads. In the course of investigations into this subject the Daily Times made inquiries into a new departure in the winning of road metal from river beds by the Waitaki County Council staff, with a new machine in the form of an elevator, recently purchased by the council as part of equipment for securing the right sized metal, and at the same time dealing with quantities far in excess of that which can be handled by men and shovels.

In the instance under review a sloping screen was rigged up over a lorry, and the elevator was set in motion, and in 10 minutes the three-yard lorry was filled with screened river-run shingle. A second lorry was backed in and filled similarly, and the rate at which the screened metal was turned out totalled between 60 and 70 yards in a working day at this time of the year. The quantity of rejects, that is of stone over-size, was only 20 per cent, of the total material handled. The result is that roads would receive a coat of the very best sized maintenance gravel, which would give an even running surface. It was an example of the efficiency of modern methods, and, moreover, the cost is about two-thirds of the former cost of this type of work. The benefits of this system along the lines of modern road maintenance appear obvious, and with the addition of a small crusher, which has been placed on order, to deal with the reject stone, the crushed metal from the rejects will be incorporated with the rest to make it more serviceable "for practical purposes.