MAIN SOUTH ROAD.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 October 1915, Page 3

MAIN SOUTH ROAD.

TAfiANAKI COUNTY COUNCIL'S SCHEME. THE EXAMPLE OF BOMBAY. INTERVIEW WITH THE ENGINEER. To decide upon the best means of road construction in the future is one of the principal problems now before the Taranaki County Council, and the engineer (Mr. R. W. Fisher) has in hand a scheme for experimenting on the Main South. road, and he will place his proposals before the Council at next month's meeting. The road problem, which has become an important one for all local bodies since niotor traction has become general, was discussed at last month's meeting of the Council, Wnen the engineer was given authority to put down a formation over forty chains on the Main South road as an experiment. In an interview with a Daily News representative, Mr. Fisher stated that it was suggested the trial road formation should be made on the Main South road from the borough boundary, but he favored the test being made from the bottom of the Omata hill towards the borough, as hero the test would be a severe one. It was suggested by the Council that tar-seal should be employed, but it was stated that the matter was deferred, pending Mr. Fisher's recommendations, and to give him an opportunity of visiting Hawera, Eltliam, and other counties in the district to observe the results of tar treatment on their roads. At the meeting of the Council this week correspondence was received in regard to bituco as a road preparation, but the letters were not read and no action was taken, the chairman remarking that the road question was in the hands of the engineer. The statement, which has been published, that the Council was considering the respective merits of bituco and soltar is not correct; on the contrary, neither of.these materials may be introduced in the scheme which Mr. Fisher is preparing. "My recommendation to the Council may he to use distilled tar," said Mr. Fisher, "and my idea is to give a coating of distilled tar. to the ordinary road fonnation, having the tar rolled in by a light roller. It will be best to treat portions of the road which require to be remetalled, and the lines on which the work will be carried out will be somewhat as follows: Before blinding the road we will run hot tar into the metal and then roll it, while after the formation lias become consolidated we will give it a top-dressing of tar and sand. This would then be rolled with a light steam roller." A formation of this type, Mr. Fisher considers, would provide an excellent road to meet the traffic now using the county roads. In embarking upon this new scheme of road formation Mr. Fisher lias the assistance of personal experience in similar road construction in India. Some years ago Mr. Fisher was assistant engineer to the Bombay Improvement Tmst, a body which works independently of the Bom,hay Municipal Corporation, and which was formed some fifteen years ago at the instance of Lord Sandhurst (then Governor of Bombay), With the object of improving the city to minimise the possibility of a recurrence of the great plague epidemic of the late 'nineties. To cut up the crowded areas of the city with a network of wide streets was—and still is—one of the principal activities of the Improvement Trust, and about seven years ago Mr. Fisher was in charge of an experiment made in road construction. The main outlet from the city to the most popular residential suburb was a narrow street, and it was decided to improve this outlet by putting in a street 00 feet wide. This was done, and under the supervision of Mr. Fisher the road was put down on these lines: A foundation was provided with packed spawls and on top of this crushed metal of about a three-inch ring was placed. This was rolled in and covered witli a coating of finer metal. This was rolled without blinding to give it an even surface, and then distilled tar was poured in so that it found its way into the interstices of the metal. The next stage wa« to sweep in a light top-dressing of boiling tar and this received a, coat of sand. An eight-ton roller then completed the work.

It is some eight years since this piece of road was put down, and a member of the Daily News stair, who lias recently returned from Bombay after spending about a year and a-half there, can testify that to-day this piece of road offers the best surface in a city where the roads are of a high standard. Comparatively little maintenance has been necessary and the success of the experiment is acknowledged by competent engineers. That this is so is proved by the fact that the Improvement Trust has adopted this type of road formation in several new streets which have recently been put down, while last year, when Bombay embarked upon a general road rebuilding scheme, it was decided to work ■on the lines of the road put down by IBr. Fisher. It may be added that Bombay is a city of motor vehicles, and the road hi question being one of the principal outlets from the city carries a particularly heavy traffic—the number of motor vehicles (not to mention the lumbering bullock waggon common to India) wlrich pass over this road in a day woul<i exceed the traffic which uses the Main South road in two or three weeks.