"STRATFORD EVENING POST” TUESDAY, MAY 23, 1928. A COSTLY EXPERIMENT.

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 60, 22 May 1928, Page 4

"STRATFORD EVENING POST” TUESDAY, MAY 23, 1928. A COSTLY EXPERIMENT.

There is nothing much wrong with the surface of Broadway. It has withstood the increasing amount of ( beavy traffic in, a most satisfactory manner, and shows every indication of wearing well for many years to come. The same “mix” Was laid down between Wellington and Lower Hutt, and despite almost continuous traffic —some of it the heaviest in the Dominion —the road shows no signs of w T ear or breakage. There are many other New Zealand examples of the splendid service given by the bitumen hot mix. But, despite all this, the Main Highways Board have changed the policy in South Island. Hitherto practically all South Island’s road paving has been with bitumen or , tar but now concrete is to be 'given a trial. The road selected is a portion of the main highway on the northern side of Christchurch and two and a half miles of concrete surface is to be laid at a cost of £1 : 7,238. Apparently this is purely experimental and it is a matter of surprise that such a long length should have been taken for the purpose.

In Wellington fairly exhaustive tests of various reading materials have been made, and the City Highways Board expressed themselves as being best satisfied with the hotmixed bitumen and this was standardised upon. But about three years ago the Main Highways Board proposed to the City Board that alternate lengths of various reading matterials pud sealing mixtures should ,be laid end' to end to arrive at a definite comparison. This was negatived. And now, instead of trying out the scheme they suggested the Main Highways Board are spending Avell over £17,000 in experimenting with 'concrete. It is quite possible that with the large amount of gravel everywhere available in Canterbury, concrete may prove/cheaper in the initial stages, but it remains to be .seen if the maintenance charges are -lower and a much shorter length of experimental road might surely have been taken.