CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS

Hokitika Guardian, 13 December 1923, Page 3

CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS

ADVOCATE OF BITUMEN. -Ml expert in thy laying down of bituminous pureiuont. Mi Patterson nf ( lev,,‘laud, f iiitet! State' ol A meric i, is now in A\s llington. He stated in an interview that he had been associated with the asphalttun business for the past twenty-six years, during which time lie laid had cxpc.imee with large plants all over the Unite I States, N at:i America, Japan and t-:c I iiilipjiiucx. He had mon bituminou-. aspnait gradually hut Very certainly a- *-i't it.selt as the best street surfacing t° cote with the wear and tear of medio n motor t: a tiie. Bitumen road., in Washingtfin. whieli won* laid down aK'r hack as IS,B, were -till doing duty. fL' ti n.siderid that it well-laid hitiiinen -oml Lad a good thirty-live to forty years’ life, even where the traffic was iaiily heavy heavier, at all event.-, than Wellington wa- . likely to produce for a few (Lend.-'. Asked rb nit old tuaead.im as a fi.undalioa fur such roads, Air I’attei-sun s*at »'il l Hal it, utility depended upon tlie quality ol the m.nadam bottom. On top of that he preferred the black ’n.'ee < bitiuniuised met ail to the concrete base, as it bad a resilience of which ceil: jete iv; ~ devnid. Lxperieni e in .America was proving eveiy day the advantage oi the asphaltum road siiil.’c,- over the ordinary com rete load. Many American road, hud teen laid down v- All a base of concrete as much as din. in thickness, topped with Jin ol asphalt. Such roads weie good for from thirt v-'ive to forty years: but for all that he gaie the releretu e io tl.i bli.eic base tin-ta] passed tbrougli tile plant, laid down hot, and rolled), ov.ine 1,, the little bit of ''give” il had rg taijn|.aii■»! with the rigid floor of concrete, ftueh ro nls ut eded little or no niamten:i*i,■ atli'iilion. 'I liev might develop 'soft Soot-'. UHL that was due to ihe fallibility of man more than to the mix. A - to the constitution of a good as. pl'.'iltiim roa.l, Mr I'atteronn -poke of (Jin i f lihu k ba.se (tw o or t hioe-incii taet.al). ai w o-i-onise ini'll of gner metal, one inch of line topping, and a dusting »l Lne seteeliings or Portland eement. Sueh a road would stand up to tm heaviest irallie. .Mr I'allei-uii stated Dial hitiiinen. would lake an impre.s.-iou. -ay of a 1: oI- e ' -. liool on a warm Mimmei's daw. ~ bu‘ tla-iv was no need to uony about, tliai a.s it wiinlii 'iiiin be ironed out, under tmllie. Indeed, il wa- not good sign v.h.-re il dal not sol ten - ‘oewual lira sui:r,-e tlat dal not do - i lil -•!;- lo erin-k in (l,e v. inter. 1