“THE RAWHIDE ROAD”

Te Aroha News, Volume XLI, Issue 6439, 17 January 1924, Page 6

“THE RAWHIDE ROAD”

BITUMEN AND PLAIN DIRT

There are thousands of miles of roads which do not warrant an expenditure so enormous as that upon main highways, writes Mr D. Deane Logan, of the American Oil Colony Club, in an article on roading problems in the States. There are thousands of miles of feeders to already existing permanent highways that must and eventually will be surfaced. Prohibitive costs have restricted their improvement as a whole and limited those that have been improved to the dignified classification of gravel roads; they must be constantly worked and regravelled, they are dusty when dry and, more often than not, dangerously “slick” when wet.

If there were a method that would cost but a fraction of what the present permanent highway costs, that would make use of such ! material as would require the least amount of maintenance at the least cost, and that would produce a road which could be thoroughly maintained, there would be the solution of the difficulty. There is such a road, one that must eventually come into its own and be recognised as the best standard road for all ordinary purposes because of its low cost, its durability, its resiliency, the ease and thoroughness with which it can be maintained, and, last but not least, the rapidity of its construction. It can be built under average conditions at one-fourth the cost of the best permanent road now in extensive use. This does not mean that it is not good. It is proven good in ways general enough and varied enough to convince and gained for itself a semi-official name of “rawhide road.”

Its success is due to the old faithful standby of the road-builder, asphalt (bitumen), its low cost to Mother Earth, which is always on the spot. Its construction is simple and rapid, and the results are'absolutely the best and most lasting of any road for there is no other road that consistently and surely improves with use. Briefly, the system of construction is this:—

When the “dump” has been properly levelled and drained and settled, the surface is bladed down to the contour of the finished road, and a few inches below the desired finished top. It is thoroughly tamped by means of a special roller tamper weighing ten tons or more, and as' this weight is •supported by the small ends of only a few tamping arms at one time, an enormous compression is , obtained. After ‘tamping until smooth a priming coat of heavy asphalt is applied at a temperature near its flash point. Loose earth is then pulled in from the sides and. levelled to a thickness of four inches or so. This pulverised' dirt is then given a number of applications of hot asphalt of about one quart to each square yard, each application being well mixed "into the dirt by harrowing, discing and kneading. When it is impregnated with the proper amount of asphalt the dirt is tamped into a compact mass and smoothed. ’A seal coat of asphalt is then applied to the surface, covered with pulverised dirt from the side of the road and rolled. The resulting road is' so compact that the heaviest trucks will not rut it. With constant traffic it becomes polished and dark, and it is mud and dust proof. It is resilient, and consequently has easy riding qualities, and it will not crack. Maintenance is a simple process; a hale can be permanently repaired by filling with a prepared mixture of asphalt and dirt and then tamped, the new material, moreover, being tamped “into the road,” producing an invisible patch.

Those who have seen the road cannot choose but to believe that it is one which will be in existence in a good state of repair long after more expensive highways have given their service and have disappeared. If neglected it is more permanent than they are, but it requires less maintenance, and what is required can be done effectively and economically The oldest pavement of its kind is in Kansas City, where two streets were laid down in 1907. City records show that one has had but two cents expended upon it per square yard, and the other nothing, and it is in good condition, except for a few places, wnere the drainage is not good.