Horowhenua Main Highways

Shannon News, 17 September 1926, Page 3

Horowhenua Main Highways

o ( QUESTIONS FOR INSPECTING ENGINEEES. COUNTY ENGINEER ANSWERS CRITICISM. j The work that was done on the Main \ Highways in Horowhenua was criticised j , by sonic Councillors at the July meet- I iag and it was decided to ask for a re- ; port by a Highways Board engineer, a j, course which the County Engineer (Mr. Anderson), who was absent from Uie ] July meeting, subsequently stated he { welcomed. ) . At Saturday's meeting; Cr._ Catley. ; who had been the principal critic, said he had four or five questions that he wished to put to the Inspecting -Engm- . eers, cither personally or through the . Works Committee. The questions were: , Has enough bitumen been used on the , lirst course? If so why have the chips fiiiled to adhere? Would excessive , temperature affect the quality of thebitumen? Could the surface be effectively sealed by the first application? , The chairman: You mean the penetration. You can't do that because the , air must escape through small holes in tho eourse. i Cr. Catley said another question was: , Has the road enough camber? Would there be any objection to having re- ( presentatives of the Works Committee . at the inspection? The chairman: If you are going to , have them, our engineer should be there { too. , Cii. Catlev: Of course he should, hi: t Cntlev added that he was ufraid the very "weakness they thought existed in , the" road would not be replied to unless these•'matters were pounded out. He -, would be satisfied if the inspecting engineers assured him that the work had ( been carried out in a satisfactory man- ( ner. ■ Is'There -Enough Bitumen? The Engineer: We arc tho only ones that can answer whether enough bitumen has been put on. , , , , i Cr. Catley said the engineers should ; be able to judge by results nibl 1 some of j' the Works Committee held ihat insuth- , cie.nt had been put on. The chairman said the weakness was , that the road was not sealed soon . enough. The engineer said some of .t was done when, tho weather was too cold. , Or. Catley: That is - U« fault you ( should have known. L The. chairman': The engineer told , von at the time. . j j " The Engineer: A certain amount oi j chips will come off every time. I Cr. Catley: Too much has come oh. j , The Engineer: I can ar.swer every one of these questions. The chairman: I attended the "Works Committee and gave roasoi.s why the road would not be a success m parts. Th-it has been borne out. I recommciid that we ask the Highways Board to expedite their report and if the Council thinks fit we can send on these questions. ; V ' Cr. Catley then submitted the -tot- T lowing motion, seconded by Or. Jensen: '' That the Main Highway.-: Board be written to asking them to expedite the report on the stab.i*.y or otherwise of the highways work done south of Levin, as indicated by the following questions: (.0 _ Has, e"on"-h bitumen been ufi I m the lirst'"course?; (2) If so. v.hv have insufficient chips failed to adhere:; ■(.",) Would excessive temperature affect the quality of the bitnmoiW; '(■1) Should the surface be eJVectivelv sealed by tho first couvse?; ■ •(;>) Has the road enough camber*;(.h) ■ Is it necessary to erect such high shoulders on the side of the road.' The chairman said this matter was first brought up when the engineer wi:s not present and the speaker had answered the questions at the tune. There was one question brought up d l v Cr Catlev that he could not answer then, namely how was it. if sufficient bitumen was used, that tin re were so manv barrels of it along t.ie roadside over a certain area. He had mentioned the number as 211 barrels. The speaker could answer the question now. At that-.particular piece, they h id a breakdown with ,thc boiler and had to ge. the Borough boiler and used their bitumen, with the result that the County s bitumen was left on the rordsule. Mr. Anderson should be allowed to rcpn to the statements made in his absence. Criticised in Absence. The engineer said it seemed rather hard so far as he was com-erncd that these statements should be made when he was away. They upper-red in the press and though he could not answer them off hand, if he had th- paper boifore luiu, he would deal with them. Cr. Catley: We are not .•ondemning Lyon. I shall be pleased U ! you have everv opportunity of them. Wo'don't want to hold up the work, but to go on with it. But we want to be -satisfied that there is no caiuo oi alarm before we go on. . The Engineer: If the weather had continued line there would ha\e been no complaint", because you would not have seen any faults. There are no faults on the road from ti .» Ivimbeil, Road to the Ohau station barnug o little roughness. Cr Catlev: Decidedly rrugn. A Gamble With The Y/eatuer. The Engineer: Wait till ".he s'lmmor comes. That was put > when tne weather was cold. The -vh<» « l hn f from start to finish was a ;,ambm wit'i the weather. „ Cr. Catley: There wc;v some line davs. The Engineer: And theve arc some o-ood pieces of road. The rection Ironi the Ohau bridge to the siation wouiu have been quite alright to-«!:vy if it had been sealed. It was put down under the worst conditions so far as the trees and traffic were concerned. Thcre_ is half a chain just below the station that is sealed and there is not a break in it. As to whether enough bitumen had been used, the engineer said the quantity specified by the Highways Board 'and by their standard specification had been put on. namely 1} gallons to the square yard. They ha«

even put on a little more in places they thought were a little weak. Sooner than put too little, they put out an extra barrel every few chains in ease of need. Cr. Catley: That is quite in order, [f you put enough bitumen on, you would expect the chips to stop there. The Engineer: We don't expect all to stick.

Cr. Catley: We claim there were too many went off the road. The Engineer: No, we are quite satisfied with our first course. It is a penetration course, not a sealing course. H is a cementing course. If it was sealing why put on another coat of chips. Cr. Catley: In other places you see no chips on the side of the Toad and it has the appearance of having more bitumen than you used. The Engineer: I toured the whole of the North Island before commencing this work and saw a lot of those roads being put down. A certain amount of the chips went to the side of the Toad. Cr. Catley quoted Tarannki as a place where more bitumen was used. Standard Specification Used. The Engineer:- We used the standard quantity. Cr. Catley: Maybe the last, thing has not been said in bitumen road-making. The engineer invited Cr. Catley to go over the road with, him and point out what he considered faults. He said that no bitumen was put on at an excessive temperature, it was heated to ;kS(J degrees by the thermometer. Returning to the attack, Cr. Catley said there were places on slopes where one could see that the water was getting in higher up and coming out lower down. The Engineer: No, it gets in at. the sides. Cr. Cntley: It comes out through the surface. The engineer said that on a recent day following hcajvy rain he had gone over the road and' could see no wet patches. He would like to.see the particular place referred to by Cr. Catley. "-Looking For Perfection." Cr. Catley: Perhaps lam looking for perfection and we know we cannot get perfection in anything. Referring to the camber, the engineer .said the curve was -g-inch to the foot—the standard specification. • Cr. Catley: It looks like a level road to me. Dirt From the Shoulders. Cr. Jensen referred to,the clay from the shoulder of the road-getting worked into the surface of the penetration course and asked whether it would not be better to do the sealing immediately on top of the first course. " The engineer said that at the tune they started on the penetration course, he'asked the inspecting engineer at that time if they could go on with the top dressing before the. first course got dirty, but he said no—to for six 'weeks or two months. T.ie -peaker said he thought that was a mistake Since then he had discussed the point with engineers under the Highways Board ami the Public Works Department and their advice was to go on with the top dressing at once—not to leave it. If that had been done last year a better job would have resulted. ' "Still ■Learning." The chairman said they were stU learning in' ! ' rd to tll(> ™" structlon of bitumen roads. They hud now e0....e to the conclusion that it would be belter to seal right on top of the -penetiallo"More Friendly Feeling" Wanted. Cr Barber (Tokomaru) considered that'if Councillors got in close touc.a with the engineer and personally asked questions of Mm whenever they met him. they would get the i»i°»™tioi. thov wanted. "I had the information he 'has just given you months and months ago," he continued lhc cngineer could not go on and finish tnc road as lie wanted to. If you had got that from him, you can accept it ju.n as freelv on the road as you can in here. It will let us get'on if there i* more of a friendly feeling in these masters. You can ask questions just as well privately and get satisfaction. The engineer said he was quite prepared to show the plans to the Councillors. A lot of them had not been m hi* office at all He would be only too pleased to have them come to his oftcc. and ask questions. Cr Catlev: Have you any objection to have an inspection by an "outside

engineer. . » The Engineer: No, it suits me imo. I was very pleased to know that you had asked for it. The chairman said ho had discusseu the Horowhemia scheme with many engineers and they all said that-tin-County work had boon most Tliev were surprised at the extent doiu and" amazed that there were so te« breaks in it. There certainly was disintegration in places, but. there no portion that was bad y bioko. . That was the worst that could be said. Tile engineer had told then, at the time that the weather was unsuitable and the Council urged him to go on ia« chairman referred to the fact rha even new ideas were changing on the p.u. of authorities in regard to the construction of bitumen roads.

The enoiner said that juM before he went on his holidays an Australian engineer with long experience of bitumen roads visited the County, subsequently he addressed meetings right through the South Island, and. everywhere he went lie mentioned favourably the work being done in. the Horowhemia Coumy. Cr! Catlev: Well,- I hope it is not as bad as it looks because we have to pay.for it.

The Enoineer: If we had stopped our penetration-a little sooner and gone on with the sealing, it would have been ah'io'ht. From January 20th, to the time we knocked off we put over seven miles, down. No other County did so much. The, only thing I rather regret, was that we did not, stop the penetration sooner and get on with the sealing. . ' :

Cr. Catley's motion asking for the Highwavs Board's inspection to be expedited was then put and carried, with the accompanying questions.