ART OF ROAD MAKING.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LX, Issue 143767, 16 April 1912, Page 7

ART OF ROAD MAKING.

THE HIGHWAYS OF THE FUTURE. The subject of the construction of roadways lias occupied the minds of experts for centuries, and with the advent of the motor car and the enormous increase in vehicle traffic the question has become one of very great importance Sir J. H. A. Alacdonald, K.C.8., discussed the matter before the Royal Institution in London last month in a lecture on “The Road; Past, Present and Future.” He drew attention to the many satisfactory .experiments which have already been carried out with various typos of mudless and dustless surfaces ,and remarked that it was now universally recognised that the roadof the future will be a truly bound road of tho future will be a rtuly bound is used, must be held together by some pitchy or bituminous material, through which Alacadam’s enemy, the water, will not be able to find its way. It appeared, said the lecturer, that when a satisfactory binder was used, it was unnecessary and even disadvantageous to employ any but quite small stones for the top-dressing, Sir John discussed the possibility of laying a thin film of some resilient material upon the top of the waterproof surface, and held out hopes that in bitumen would be found the solution of this problem. It was expected, he said, that with such material laid on ton of the main road crust and integrated with it, a valuable road protection would be supplied, so that tho crust itself would be practically permanent, the upper protecting sheet being remade ana rclaid as required.