PROBLEM OF THE COUNTRY ROADS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2523, 26 July 1915, Page 7

PROBLEM OF THE COUNTRY ROADS

AND THE REMEDY

"All ouV old-fashioned ideas about tlio upkeep of roads have te go by the board," said Mr. W. J. Howell, chairman of tho Hutt County Council, after the abortive conference respecting the maintenance of tho Hutt Road last week. "The timo is past when you can keep a Toad: even tolerably decent with a few. men, picks, and shovels, and a narrow," said Air. Howell. . "We're getting a steam roller for the county roads, hoping that will help us to keep our road surfaces together bettor than we are ablo to at present. We knew exactly what it is that's doing it. It's the loaded motor lorry tli'at tears the roads to pieces. I've watched thorn carefully lots of times. You can put fresh metal on a patch one day, and tho next day it is all gone, shot to tho side of the road! b,y tho wheels of those heavilyloaded lorries, and if you go too close J'ou stand the chance of being shot. They tear along with a three-ton weight on them at 15 to 20 miles an hour, and play the very deuce with the roads!" The City Engineer (Mr. W. ,IL Morton), who takes an abiding interest in road construction, said that all Mr. Howell had said was auito coreet —that It certainly was a very difficult problem to keep roads in repair that are traversed by many of these motor lorries. The ordinary four-wheeled motor-car, uuless it was very heavy and well-loaded, was so bad, but the heavily-loaded motorlorry that spun along at 15 miles an hour had a disastrous effect on the surface of any ordinary' road. It simply chews up the surface by the weight it carries, m combination with the speed it travels at.. Dry, loose metal, that is meant' to he gradually pressed in and become a solid patch of hard surface, was shot oat in all directions by the rubber-shod tires, and tho momoutum at which they revolve, the next lorry that passes down on to the worn patch again eating at tho foundations of the'road. "The position," continued _ Mr. Morten, "is just the same as trying to run heavy engines and trains over a light line. _ What happens? Socnor or later the line goes—something busts—and if you still continue to use that line your heavy engine is going to come to grief. It is the same with the road. Country coads are nit built to stand the traffio of heavy motor-lorries tearing'along as fast as their power permits (though for ordinary vehicular purposes they aro quite'-adequate), aha the result is they j are torn up. Then if they are not repaired they sooner or later become so bad that they could not be used by lorries owing to the cost of tires. There have been cases where a district has had a road that is quite adequate for all ordinary purposes, when one day a factory starts operations in .the locality, and motor-lorries, with heavy loads of milk and butter, commence to use tho Toad with disastrous results. The ordinarily good road is rendered bad for ordinary traffic, and ultimately bad for tho factory's own traffio through the action of the luotor-lorrios. Are the people of that district to pay to keep that road 1 in good repair, simply when it lias only been knocked out by tho one person or factory company? Surely not I Yet that is the position in many parts of New Zealand. Yet tho road must be repaired if tho motor-lorry is to continuo running, as they only pay to run where tho roads aro tolerably good. It's the caso of tho light line and the heavy .enginesomething has.to go, and it's the road at first, and then tho motor-lorry itself. "Then what is to happen? Are the roads to be repaired 1 at the cost of people who have little or nothing to do with tho woaring out of thorn, or are the motor-lorries to be stopped or taxed? It iresolves itself into an oconomio question: Can the people of a.'.ccuntry district stand the cost of tho upkeep of a road continually being traversed by motor-lorries? On experience, I should say that they cannot, and should not. Then what is to be done If you can't keep your road fit for motor traffic you must tone your motor traffic to suit your roads. That is the remedy—to limit the speed according to the weight of the load' and -the lorry. There are some lorries carrying a three or fourton load eight feet high that crack on the pace all they know when' there's a clear road. They are, perhaps, going at 15 miles tan hour, when they should be travelling at five, if tho surface of the road is to bo respected. That is the only ■way I can see this problem can be satisfactorily dealt with."