ROAD CONSTRUCTION

Hokitika Guardian, 3 September 1926, Page 3

ROAD CONSTRUCTION

concrete v. bitvmen. AUCKLAND. August 30. AYliile concrete has admittedh triumphed over bitumen hot-mix i'i Auckland suburbs, it lias generally heen considered that the extra pel manency and lasting surface were purchased at much higher price. But to-day concrete pavements are costing little more, and sometimes even less, than hot-mix. and the result in Auckland opinion af least is greatly m favour of concrete. Thus to-day ie Mnmikau County Council accepted tenders for paving section of Great South road in concrete at prices winch work out at £7-300 per, mile. The sanr work done by hot-mix would cost about £7700 per mile— according to the estimate of the Highways. Board-

so that for £2OO less per mile the county obtains a road whose maintenance will he practically nil. and which, Bulging by an experience of over ter years in Auckland city under tin heaviest traffic conditions, requires r comparatively small allowance for do rircciation. Protagonists for bitumen have never claimed that it won d gma result ns good as a properly hue concrete highway, but they have argued that its greater cheapness recommended it above concrete CEMENT WINS THE DAA . Now that roads can be paved in concrete for less than bitumen it would seem that cement has finally won the

a.... The tendency has been for contract prices for concrete to he cheaper, and part of this result us no douhdue to the extraordinary pitch of efficiency to which contractors have or gnnised their gangs. Some wonderful records for a da> s work in concrete paving have recent > been made, and the tendency is alij» >s to exceed these records m the race for still greater efficiency. When the present contracts for par-

ing Great South road are completed Auckland will possess a concrete h.gl. : war stretching from Papalana in the south, through the city to Henderson in the north, a total distance of *> miles. Apart from this main road there are manr miles of city ami suburban streets paved in concrete, a material that "fives every satistaction. "hilt other'’methods of road construction have dismally failed to carry the weight of the modern heavy traffic. As illustrating the great vogue of concrete here, the remarkable fact max-he noted that in two recent suburban lam sub-division.the vendors have laid, or are laving, the main road m concrete lie fore handing it over to the local body.