MAIN HIGHWAYS IN HOROWHENUA

Shannon News, 16 July 1926, Page 3

MAIN HIGHWAYS IN HOROWHENUA

IS CONSTRUCTION FAULTY? COUNCIL TO' GET REPORT FROM HIGHWAYS BOARD. So much has been heard of faulty bitumen formation in Wellington that it is not surprising that Horowhenua County Councillors should be keenly critical of the work being carried out under their own scheme. These opinions took shape in the following report submitted to Saturday’s meeting of the County Council by the Works Committee:— Main Highway Construction: Your Committee desires to draw the attention of the Council to what they consider a defect in the penetration system between the Kuku factory and the Village Set--1 tlement, also to the fact that in their opinion the top course as completed is not satisfactory in that the chips have not adhered to the road as intended. The Chairman (Cr. Monk) said this was just what the Engineer said would happen. The wear was showing most where th© road got most water. There was a place the Levin side of the Ohau bridge under the shelter - of trees—one of the worst places. The Engineer said at, the time that he would like to see the top coat put' on that piece. There was another had piece on the Settlement Road, again in the shelter of trees. Gr. Jensen moved and Cr. Catley seconded: “That the Highways Board be asked to furnish a report on the paving of last summer’s bitumen paving, and the permanency and stability thereof.” Cr. Ryder, chairman of the Works Committee, said he hoped action would be taken which would prevent tire Council being made the (scapegoats. The Chairman: scapegoats: What do you mean? ..

Cr. Ryder: if there is anything wrong now it should be attended to. The Chairman: We are responsible for Ihe construction. The Highways Board make an inspection and if the work is not up to the mark they will not pay for it. Our work has been inspected regularly by their inspectors and they have expressed their satisfaction with it. 1 don’t‘see anything there yet that should cause any great conce s m. There is certainly slight disintegration in places. Nowhere is there an actual break.

Cr. Ryder:'There are piece of stone three or four' inches in length quite loose. ■

The Chairman: You are very lucky not to- have had more of that.

Cr. Ryder did not think it was due to the bitumen being burnt, but to the water getting in. There was water under the road.

Cr. Kiisby considered the trouble was due either to' there not being sufficient bitumen to bind or to it not ‘being rolled enough. Water got through from the surface of the road, which had not got sufficient camber to let the water run off.

Cr nloLeavey said he. very carefully watched the piece of road at Ohau being put down. The narrow wheels of the sprayer made ruts and. they were not levelled too carefully with the result that water got into them and caused trouble. 41

The Chairman: That was recognised and remedied.

Cr. Catley agreed that so far as the general work of the foundation went, there was not very much to concern the Council, but it was no use blinking their eyes to the fact that there were weak places in the road. The Chairman: No one denies that. It was expected.

Gr. Catley contended that neither the first nor the second course had stopped on the road, which pointed to there- not being sufficient binding material. He had expressed the opinion that there was not enough bitumen and the chairman concurred with him.

The Chairman: No, 1 did not. 1 said you could have too much bitumen as well as too- little.

Cr. Catley quoted the number of casks of bitumen on the roadside and said he was not referring to the condition of the work in an antagonistic spirit, but to protect those the councillors represented. There had been leakages from the roafi. Why did the Engineer send men to cut channels to let the water away? The water was still leaking out showing that it was getting through the first course, and coining out underneath. Unless they could get the water out it was going to- break up the road. The Council should do as the resolution suggested, —get an enquiry as to the condition' of the work—whether it was satisfactory. The Engineer said lie was going to roll down the sides of the road which would have tended to let the water off. Why had it not »been rolled down?

The Chairman: The Engineer tried to do that but could not do so because the ground was too wet. Gr. Catley: It should have been done before, then. The Chairman: The Engineer had no roller available when the ground was dry. , Cr. Catley said mud and dust was being impregnated into the road from the banks at the sides; it would be very difficult to remove it when they came to put the second course on. They could not make the second course bind to that. If mistakes were made, the Council had to take the knocks. The first blame came to the Council, noit the Engineer. Cr. Jensen considered that if the Council had a .report from the Highways Board that the work was satisfactory they would all be easy in their minds that things were.going on al-

right. He could not help thinking that in the first course the metal was too large—that appealed to him more than anything. It was very Unfortunate that they could not go on with the sealing to prevent the clay working out, as it had dome, for about a yard into the first course. The only way it could be removed was by water and a broom and that would be very costly.

Gr. Ryder said everyone realised that they were undertaking a new work and a very large work and everyone wanted to see it a success, particularly the chairman. If they did not delve into it they would certainly be lacking in their duty. He considered tire camber of the road was a little bit too flat but that could be rectified in the next year’s work. The sides shftuld have been rolled down—he did not say they could have been. That was a very small job. It only meant going down one side and up the other. The Chairman: The Engineer tried to do it. i

Cr. McLeavey: He put in a couple of days at it. Gr. Ryder said he knew that water' had gone through. He suggested that the bitumen had got cold in putting down and the chips would not adhere. Gr. Bryant said that at, the south end, the part done last, no stone had shifted, so the bitumen could not have been cold. ! It might be that a heavier roller was needed. The Chairman said he was perfectly sure the Engineer was just as anxious as any other man , that this scheme should be a success. The Engineer had told them that if he could not get the surface sealed, a certain amount of water would go through. He could not complete it because the top dressing he was doing was not proving a success, and he stopped it. The weather was not suitable for the work. Cr. Kilsby: Why not start sooner?. The chairman said he was not afraid of the result and had no fear but that they could make this road | equal to any in the Dominion. It i might cost a little more in material. He did not like labouring the point, but their machinery did not arrive at the specified time which caused delay at the start and then they,, had an early winter which stopped operations. The whole of the Council urged the Engineer to furnish the top dressing, but the weather was against him and he found he was wasting bitumen and chips and stopped. It was as important not to get too much bitumen down as too little, and if it was put down in cold weather it went down and as soon as the hot weather came it rose up and gave a good surface . He was not going to defend the Engineer as he was well able to defend himself, but .whatever the Engineer had done had been done with the best intention and to give the best surface. The chairman said he quite agreed with having t> a Public Works Engineer come down and inspect the work. So far as rolling the sides down was concerned, the Engineer had no roller available for the work and whin the roller was free, it was too late. That might have been an error of judgment, but to release a roller he would have bad to stop the penetration work. They had found that they had to get larger wheels for the sprayer. They could not, use the tractor for that reason. It was also found that they could not get enough bitumen hot to keep the sprayer going.' One could practically go along and pick out tire pieces of road done on unsuitable clays for spraying, and those done on good days. They had to remember that this was quite new work so far as the Council was concerned and they were all very anxious that it should be a success. He could quite imagine how disturbed the councillors were when tney thought parts of the road-were not what they should be: They wanted to get through with as few failures as possible and he thought they would be very lucky to get right through with their scheme without any failures. The particular piece coming to the Ohuu bridge was not a success. It was put down when the traffic was on it all the time. Cr. Catley said the first course, which was put down in the best sealing time, went off the road just the same as course had done. The motion to have a report by the Highways Boards was then carried. PROGRESS OF THE WORK. The Acting-Engineer (Mr. A. It. Caliendar) reported' on the main highways work as follows: — Survey.—Owing to absence of the Engineer on furlough, I have been unable to do any survey work; but hope to be able to squeeze in a few days a,t it before long. The route of the Manakau-Otaki section, has been pegged to die top of Simcox’s Hill, and levels have been run to the foot of Simeox’s Hiill so that a very short length only remains to complete allsurvey from Waikanae to Levin. No. 1 Highway: Waikanae-Otaki Section—Very good progress is being made with the widening of the formation on this Section. Gangs are_ at present working between 4m. and sm. pegs, and a short while should see the earthworks between these mileages completed, except for trimming to grade later. I have been in touch with Messrs Bulliman Bros., regarding fences encroaching on road and intend to arrange, for a gang to start removing spoil from sand cutting at this point. I am also endeavouring to arrange with District Railway Engineer, re moving spoil from sand cutting just south of Te Horo. Shortly a gang will be set to work at Otaki Bridge, stripping cutting in preparation for crusher, and building shoulders towards Te lloro, preparatory to strengthening road for asphalt. Manakau-Levin Section.—Tar seal-

wp, , ing* for "the season has been stopped. Lorries are engaged carting out fine chips sufficient to enable sealing coat to be finished first tiling in the season’s work. So far this road is showing no signs of failure. No. 60 Highway: Levin to Potts Creek Section.—Good progress with the building of shoulders is being made here, this work being completed as far as the big bluff at Heatherlea East Road. The men are at present engaged shifting Heatherlea Ea&t Road formation hard up against the road boundary, and battering back the face of the bluff as Xyell as flaking the toe of same further back. The \ spoil is being used for shoulders and widening embankment across Ihakara Flat, very little spoil being available there. The 42in. dia„ concrete pipe culvert just north of Potts rise, has been lowered and lengthened, whilst the 18in. dia. concrete pipe culvert just south of Pott’s rise has been replaced with a 30in. diameter pipe with running surface at a lower level. It was found that the old pipe was a 15 inch diameter pipe, only the end pipes being 18-inch diameter. Metal and coarse chips in fair quantities have been carted on to the route of this highway from the big crusher at .Muhunoa—it being necessary to crush a certain amount of larger metal in order to obtain chips. Loss of Coal for Roller.—One of the roller drivers has reported about lewt. of his coal as having disappeared overnight. Anticipating the Council’s approval, I hftve placed the matter in the hands of the police.