MODEL ROADING.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 August 1920, Page 8

MODEL ROADING.

A CANADIAN EXAMPLE. Writing to the Town Clerk, under date June 25, from Toronto, Cr. 11. A. Eliott, of Palmerston North, gives some interesting particulars regarding his trip through Canada. In- the city of Toronto, states Cr. Eliott. motor traffic has completely superseded all forms of horse vehicles, and over 40,000 are registered. Concrete streets with a foundation of six inches to nine inches -of concrete (in some cases reinforced), and 'i carpeting of bitumen are the only form used in street construction. New Streets are not laid down in macadam, no matter how much traffic goes over them. "One sees streets with residences all along each side." continues the* writer, "and as much traffic as (say) Church Street East in Palmerston North, with paved side walks, and yet . with only fhe original earth formation, , consequently mostly dust or mud up to j t,he avles is the result. But on the I other hand, practically all the streets, : excepting those most recently built on, ■ are concreted with a. perfect surface, | hcing a pleasure to drive over. But there is nothing between the best and the worst. The streets are always con- • creted from kerb to kerb, but this distance is generally only about thirty f«t. the remaindflr bfllnff' stele walk a.n<t '

grass and trees, or vice versa—the grass and trees next to the kerb and the paved sidewalk inside. In either case the ellect in the residential area ig very pleasing." Kegarding country roads, U\. JUiott writes: "A concrete 'highway with a carpet of bitumen has been constrneted from Toronto to Hamilton, ttboHt 4S miles. This carries an euor■mous amount of heavy motor traffic very successfully. The traffic is often so great that it resolves itself into two continuous lines of vehicles, one line travelling one way and the other the opposite way. This highway was put down with an extra strong mixture of concrete, 4J to 1. The width is 18 feet, but experience has shown that this is two feet too narrow, and that 20 feet is the correct width :• this allows safe, and easy passing—if any wider road was constructed it would result in three vehicles trying to run abreast. I think .that this is a very important fact in eonnertion with our New .Zealand roads and that a width of 20 feet" of prepared surface should be aimed at. The engineer of the Highways Commission strongly recommends that where a macadam roadway exists this should be used as a foundation .base, and the surface treated' with bitumen or tar. He considers it waste of good money to break up a good macadam base by "substituting 'concrete, excepting in" those cases where very heavy arid continuous motor traffic may be expected. ••" l ue of the principal roads in Ontario, i.e., Tongc Street from Toronto to Newmarket, about 2R miles, has only a prepared tar surface on macadam base for a considerable distance. It must be remembered that roads here have to stand extremes of temperature, down to NO degrees below zero in winter, and over 100 above in summer."—Manawatu Times.