THE IDEAL ROAD.

Waipa Post, Volume IV, Issue 200, 1 April 1913, Page 2

THE IDEAL ROAD.

SPEAKING at the British Association, Sir John H. A. Macdonald, a member of the British Road Board, said what is needed for the ideal road is a surface which

cannot break, on which water cannot lodge, and on which, if at an}' spot a hollow does form through accident, the defective piece can be cut out and made as

good as ever. The essence of a good road is that water should not enter it. A disadvantage of the road roller is that it led to the use of larger stones. Large stones, Sir John continued, will not bind in the road. If a sharp edge tyre or a heavily shod hoi'se bears on one end of such a stone it is loosened and tilted, and may be actually picked out, leaving a hole. A road thus made is in a perishing condition, because water lodges in these holes, and leads to a rapid destruction of the road. He states that there is no suction action with rubber tyres, which merely exert a pressure on any water which may be in such holes and pure hydraulic action will then dislodge adjacent parts of the road. Another evil, not now to common as formerly,’ is the plan of heaping material on the crown of the road, trusting that the rolling action of the traffic will push the surplus out to the sides. A steeply-crowded road means heavier traction for vehicles if they, keep to the sides, and the formation of furrows, permitting the lodgment of water if, as usual, they keep to the crown. In the case of motor cars, such a method of making roads leads to dangerous sideslips, from the mud binding, washing down towards the sides.