BITUMINOUS ROADS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4782, 28 November 1924, Page 4

BITUMINOUS ROADS.

TURUA SOUTHERN A REA. SPRAYING COMMENCES. The first strip of road in the Turua southern area to be bitumen sealed was commenced on Monday and finished on Tuesday. At 4 a.m. the fire was lighted in the boiler situated at the corner of Orchard East Road, and in 2% hours the bitumen was heated to the required point, which is anything from 400 to 410' deg. Care must be taken not to heat it much above this, as the flash point is only 450 degrees, and it is for this reason that it will not be possible to bank the fire overnight in the future.

The barrels are hoisted on to a platform alongside the tanks of the heater, the hoops then being cut and the staves knocked off, leaving the bitumen standing in a solid lump. This is easily cut into lumps of convenient size with an axe. The staves of the barrels are used as fuel, and when the bitumen has been heated to the required degree it is run off into a tank on a Ford lorry for transportation to the spraying machine. On Monday, when a cold wind was blowing, it was found that the temperature had fallen during the 2y 3 miles journey to 320 degrees, but on Tuesday, whicl* was a warm day, the temperature was 340 degrees, which is about the heat required for spreading, A fire is maintained in the spreader, however.

The bottom course of metal has been laid for some time, and has become consolidated by traffic. On this was spread the second course, which was immediately sprayed with bitumen. Following a yard or so behind the sprayer men spread metal chips, and behind them came the road roller. For the grouting coat one gallon of bitumen was sprayed over every square yard of road, and for the surfacing coat, which was put on shortly afterwards and covered with chips and relied, a quarter of a gallon )f bitumen being used for every square yard.

It is expected that about 15 chains of road will be compl|eted daily, though a shortage of labour, is ,at present hindering operations. Most of the men employed arc farmers who live nearby, but a labourer witn much experience on that'kind of work in Taranaki is employed spraying the bitumen.

The work is proceeding systematically. Metal punts are arriving with every tide at the Gumtown Road hopper, and the metal and chips are being transported along the tramline to where the work is in hand. When the crusher in the Puriri creek puts out more metal than is required at Gumtown supplies ,are diverted to Turua. By the time all the metal required at Turua is there Orchard East Road will be in a fit state to receive

the first course. At present the formation requires discing, grading, a,nd rolling and this willp icbably be done when the machinery has completed the work on which it is now engaged at Pekapeka and AVaiiau roads. Should anything happen to prevent bitumen spraying on Huirau Road, such as, for instance, a shower of rain, which will possibly stop work for the day of at least until the metal is thoroughly dry, the metal and workmen can be diverted to Orchard East Road. The completion of the road has long been awaited by the settlers, and particularly by their wives, who up to the present have been practically isolated for the winter months. Their gratification is finding vent in supplying the workmen with numerous billies of tea and plates of cakes, and they apparently vie with one another, for on Tuesday afternoon supplies were seen arriving from every farmhouse nearby.