THIRD EDITION SIX YEARS' WEAR

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17028, 13 August 1929, Page 11

THIRD EDITION SIX YEARS' WEAR

Bnmmm concrete - BUXf ?RM> EXAMPLE It is now about six years since the WoliingtoiJ-FQtonQ road was laid down in. bituminous concrete —hot-mix —and , it. is, therefore, possible to apply the experience of that period to a judgment on what was at. pile time the subject of some criticism concerning the kind of surfacing to be used. Taking the official statements as ; published from time to time, nothing ; has been *P e,,t njainteatyue of this > bitumen track since it wns laid down. 1 The cost of maintaining the old Hutt i road in the days of macadam was an 1 ever-increasing qnq year by year with the growth of traffic; for the last year j in its macadam form the eost of main- ■ teannee was stated to be £4OOO for the five miles. Since then traffic has continued to incrou&o, until in I'J-h the motor .traffic has multiplied three time*. It may not be reasonable to advance similarly an estimate of the cost of maintenance if the road had been left unpaved, but it seems clear that a cost to correspond with the present traffic volume would be almost prohibitive. Taking the cost of surfacing the road at something under ! £40,000, it would be safe to say that ( by the time another two years have , passed the surfacing will have paid . ' for itself—a rather remarkable circum- ’ stance. During tho six years there have been two big breaks in the water mains under the bitumen, one three or fotir years ago, and the second a few ago. On the latter occasion a » sample block of the bitumen was cut if. and examined. The closest security revealed no appreciable wear, the solid two-course mix still showing its original five-inch thickness. Incidentally the two breaks referred to provide good examples of the advantages of bituminous surfacing in case of repair work. Except for a difference in color, the repaiT length is inclistmguishabie from tho rest of the road. — % Wellington Post. »