TRAFFIC WANTED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20050, 23 September 1939, Page 2

TRAFFIC WANTED

NEW HIGHWAYS WORK PROCESS OF COMPACTION JOB NORTH OF ORMOND Road-users who have been _ accustomed to avoiding sections cf highway where construction work is in progress are invited by- the Public Works Department to co-operate in making a success of a new type of job for this district, now in progress on the main north highway, from the Ormond bridge to Scott's corner. During the process of compaction of thb lower course of this job, traffic will be encouraged to pass over the section rather than avoid it. The system of construction has been tried out in other parts of New Zealand, and has been found to give results fully justifying tbe experiment. Mdssrs. W. 3. Goosman and Company, Limited, have secured the contract for reconstructing three and a half miles of the highway between the points mentioned, and are concentrating plant and staff to complete tbe work in good time. Gravel and Clay Mix Iji place of the heavy metal which formed the bottom courses of other road jobs in the district, gravel mixed with a proportion of clay will be put down on this section, and water will be used copiously in the process of mixing. The action of traffic on the mix will be to pack it down firmly, and graders will be kept at work constantly truing up the surface as the water dries out. The finished job will be much more firm and true to alignment, according lo experience elsewhere, than that developed by the older methods. A top course will be laid later by the' same method, and subsequently a sealing coat of bitumen will be added. Elsewhere the resulting roadway has shown a surface more like that of hot-mix jobs than of the older bitumen work. The co-operation of traffic is esential to the success of the work, and drivers are recommended t.o use the section under construction, driving at not more than 20 miles an hour.

High speeds will not help, but rather will hinder the job, but if drivers will be patient for a few Says they will have the satisfaction of contributing to the making of a class of road offering excellent travelling comfort.