Evening Star Newspaper, October 28, 1923, Page 56

10 URGES USE OF OLD PAVING AS BALLAST Public Roads Economist Points to Waste in High- B way Making. BY J. E. PENNYBACKER, Formerly Chief Economist of United States Buream of Public Ronds. Two distinct problems confront the highway engineer, who must spend highway revenues in the best inter- st of the taxpayer: One, to salvage the old pavements Wwith a view to utilizing as large a proportion of the original investment a8 possible; and, second, to construct new pavements at the most reason- able cost consistent with service and durabllity. There are in the United States nearly 400.000 miles of hard surfaced highways and of this, total &t least 100,000 miles consist of wa- terbound macadam pavements. It 1s little short of an economic crime to dig up these old macadam pave- ments and replace them with an en- tire new pavement, thus ignoring the excellent foundation value of the old macadam. The material In these old DPikes has been compacted under years of traffic to a degree of stability which could hardly be approached by entirely new construction. During the process of compacting the weak Places, both in the subgrade and in the pavement, will have been shown up so that repair and replacement can be intelligently conducted with- out sacrifice of these portions of the old ravement which are in good con- dition. When it is considered that the stone or gravel constitute by far the heaviest portion of a pavement the saving In the cost of quarrying. transporting and placing this great mass of material becomes an item well worth while. For conserving these old macadam pavements an asphalt wearing course is ideal. The Teasons are simple and convincing: Reasons Are Simple. First, asphalt is absolutely water- proof ‘and an asphaltic mixture, therefore. protects all pavements from its deadljest eriemy, water. Second, because an asphaltic mix- ture Is absolutely dustless and thus protects the pavement from raveling 2nd blowing away in the form of dust during dry weather. Third, because an asphaltic mixture is the most flexible and resilient pave- ment possible to design and, there fore, It takes up the shock of im- pact with complete protection for the underlying foundation. As an illus- tration of the importance of this im- pact resistant quality it has been ascertalned by the United States bu reau of public roads that & rear truck wheel with a load of 7.500 pound: resting upon it dellvers a hard blo to a pavement when the wheel iy moving at ffteen miles an hour. With only a one-inch drop thls blow is! acnivalent to that of a weight of more than 42,000 pounds. Fuith, beciuse the asphalt wearing course can be laid In a course as thin as two inches and still conform_to good engineering practices so that wherever the old pavement has an adequate thickness the great cost of leying a thick new pavement Is cut two-inch thickness, Unea Local Materials. Sixth, because asphalt enables the use of a local material which would be unsuitable for other form of con- struction. For example, a hard ston: which has no cementing value and i therefore, unfitted for waterbound macadam, can be used with asphalt because ‘the asphalt provides the binding power which the stone lucks. In another case a fairly soft stone which would not be hard enough for portland cement concrete may be used With asphalt, for even if the stone breaks down It forms with the as- phat a tough mastic similar in some respects to a rubber mat. Seventh, because the asphalt wear- ing course is easily repaired if any part of it should become defective and, “when properly prepared, the pavement is absolutely restored, the ncw asphalt blending with the old mixture. This is only possible with the flaxible type of pavement. Some engineers flgure a pavement as having two dimensions, width and thickness, but the most important dimension of all is length. The peo- ple today need an enormous mileage of highways so that they may get from the starting point to their des- tinatlon. If a few miles of a very costly type of pavement are lald and a gap of bad road is left between the terminus of the pavement and the ultimate destination it is much the same as building a bridge half way across.the river and walting & few years to build the other half. It Is not only common sense but a civic duty to utilize fully every existing asset in the way of old pavements in order to get mileage. Second Problem. The second problem, that of provid- ing new pavements, invoives the con- sideration of a very wide range of highway method and design. A few years back the so-called city types of pavement were regarded as beyond the of the country road buflder because of thelr great cost. That was In the days when a $5,000 to $10,000 ver mile outlay was regarded as quite liberal Today the country highway which costs less than $20,- 000 per mile is elther regarded as a shining example of extreme economy or it is relegated to the ranks of the “cheaper types.” Now when we g0 Into levels such as these we are ely abreast of the city paving tvpes and it is entirely practicable for the farmer to drive from the mar- ket to town on a 5th avenue or Broad street type of pavement and pay no more for it than he is now paying for other types of country roads. As matter of fact, the famous Lacka- wanna trall is mostly composed. of heet asphalt on a portland cement concrete base and compares favor- ably with the best pavements in the best cities. Few state highway en- gineers have had any experience with city paving, as curlously enough there “have ‘been” very few city en- gineers who have been placed at the head of state highway departments. it is ipevitable that those pavements which® are able to withstand the grueling wear and tear of city traffic are capable of withstanding any traf- flc to which a country highway will be subjected. The reason the city asphalt type of pavement can be con- ucted for a little if any greater < than bare concrete Is because the use of the asphalt top eliminates the necessity for a rich concrete base. In other words, where the asphalt top is not applied the portland cement is ed in the proportion of one part cement 1o four and one-half parts v *~. while in the cases where an asphalt top Is used the wut cemen, in the base is one part of cement to nine parts of sand and stone. Further, while in the case of the portland cement pavement a metal reinforcement is usually re- quired. this is not needed in a con- crete base surface with an asphalt top. These modifications, bring the two designs fairly close ifi compara- Everything You Can Desire in a Sedan, this Hupmobile Gives You The new Hupmobile Sedan, of course, more- than satisfies those fundamental considerations of performance, reliability and sound invest- ment value which must be first considerations: in every sensible motor car purchase. ‘The new Sedan goes far beyond this, however. It is, in the first place, the most beautiful and at the same time the most comfortable Hupmobile ever built. In the distinguished appearance of this fine S g designers have achieved a The lines are Ior'ng and sweeping, the rear: oomorl- broadly rounded, windows are broader, and not so high, , ‘THE:'SUNDAY -STAF WASHINGTON, - D. - U, _OCTOBER . 28,.1923—PART .3, down to a minimum by using the — John Smith and His Car BY FREDERICK C. RUSSELL . John Smith is a character whom every motorist should welcome. He is not selfish; rather he is a motoring martyr, a chap willing and glad to have exploited, in an interesting way, his experiences for &- benefit of the other 10,000,000 or more No. 17+—The Right of Way. The next point of Interest.on our trlp was a resort hotel on the out- skirts of a small city. Smith thought his battery needed a testing and so after reglstering I rode back to the clty with him in his car. The way in took us along a car line and it was Just our luck to have to keep stop- PIng while a trolley took -on and discharged paesengers, “If 1 thought there wasn't an ordinance against passing standing trolley cars I'd get ahead of this one,” Smith safd. “That's a thing T've been worrled about ever since We started on this trip. We've passed through varlous States and from the several automobile law e tiv cost. This comp: 5 arison is not in- fended as in any sense derogatory to e portland cement concrete type of ment is not unduly expensive. .On the Pacific coast there has been Widely developed over a perlod of twenty-five years a type of pavement and foundation, which is the aeme of resiliency and flexibility and the abll- ity to resist the encroachments of water. This pavement iy known as the asphaitic concrete base type. Its more common name is that of “black base.” This type is not patented or controlled by any company or indi- vidual and is lald at a moderate cost. Simply a Foundation, It Is simply a foundation of three or four inches of mixed stone and asphalt on which is placed a warring course of the recognized sheet as. phalt or asphaltic concrete that is laid in the cast. This gives a total thickness of five or six Inches of pavement and foundation, which has been found ample to meet the heav- lest and most varied traMc known to California highways. In Visalla, Calif. 1s a “black base” pavement that ‘was laid In 1896 and which Is today In “excellent condition. The Visalla pavement is officially reported by the city engineer to have cost nothing for maintenance. Where the subgrade is unstable it is good prac- tice to lay a thin insulating course of four inches of broken stone. Engi- neers famillar with this type of con- struction clalm that it is_the only type which will, successfully resist the bombardment of heavy traffic and is, therefore, destined to become andard In eastern paving practice within a comparatively few years. In the borough of Manhattan, New York city, the practice has been adopted of replacing foundation cuts in 5th avenue with this type of asphaltic base wherever an opening In the Pavement becomes neocessary. The feature of prime importance in this question of design of new pave- ments is that the fleld is a very wide | one, that there are very many types of pavement, that the engineer and the taxpayer can conserve the inter- ests of good engineering and wise tax outlay by taking fully into ac- count the possibilities of these vari- ous types of paving and avolding any policy that involves placing all the eggs In one basket. the motor clan. manuals I have glanced over it seems that the laws vary considerably. There ought to be some uniformity about them.” Uniformity Value Deubted. “Undoubted]; it would be easler traveling if all motoring laws were similar,” “but such uni- ible nor desira. ble because conditions vary widely in different parts of the country. Besides, those who are engaged in framing new laws are seldom of the same opinion, and the consequence is that some states are always com- ing out with new laws in advance of other states and abolishing obsolete ones. This makes for progress To make a little better progress ourselves at this point Smith turn into another street on which there were no car track: but at the next crossing he began to slow up' because of an awkward trafic situation di rectly ahead. A car was coming down the streét to our right; an- other was approaching from the left, while a third car was appreaching from in front. Smith had been raised on the law that when two vehicles are approaching o crossing the car to the right has the right of way, provided both cars are approaching at approximately the same rate of speed. To all appearances the car to the right was traveling the same speed that we were; and on this as- sumption he slowed up to let the other-car pas: An Awkward Situation. What Smith had not counted onm, however, was that the driver to his right also had a car to his right, and so on in turn around the circle; consequently Smith found that the man to his left was waliting for ue to go ahead. The result was that all four cars came to a stop. The situation was awkward, ridiculou; Presently one of the more aggre sive drivers was starting up again then another started, and a moment later the two of them nearly col- lided. And the driver of the third car was bawling us out for “block- ing the traffic.” “This proves my contention_about uniformity of laws” I said. “Freak laws should be kept off the books, but_here you have an Instance of a makeshift law which is belng too universally adopted. Lawmakers overlook the posaibility of four cars approaching a crossing at the same & condition which is more fre- than most people imagin The laws include the word ‘approxi- mately’ in speaking of speed, but that only complicates matters. For instance, you think you're driving at a reasonable speed now, but I think you're going too blamed fast. It was well that I spoke of speed. We had just approached another crossing and, though Smith was going faster, and had the right-of-way as a consequence, @ car coming from the right suddenly put on speed and shot directly across in front of us, barely escaping a smash. Law Observers May Suffer. “There's another case where your ‘right’ nearly worked to your -own disadvantage” I sald. “Ignorance of the law 18 no excuse, but here is a case where the driver who knows and obeys the law is llable to get ‘The - longer -wheelbase -and springs -give -the aed!:n. both in front and rear, entirely new and There is a harmony of interiof and -exterior .«color scheme that is very pleasing. j Upholstery is handsome gray cloth, with a distinct blue stripe. Exterior finish is a new Hupmobile blue, exceptionally pleui'ng. ipment i plete, includi &:or: lndl‘:nt::;u is bright ni rear view' ' With increased engine power, unprecedented any Hupmobile before it,” driving this Hup- mobile is pure pleasure. We urge you to let us demonstrate it for.you. STERRETT & FLEMING, Inc. Champlain St. and Kalorama Road BRANCH SALESROOM: 1223 CONN. AVE. Columibia 505 into more trouble than the willful violators who are out looking for it. My suggestion .either eliminate the law altogether or add a. clause which would read that if two, three or four cars are approaching the same .crossing from different direc- tions and at speeds varying not more than two miles per hour the driver who blows his horn first leads the way and breaks up the combination. In ‘order to have a mix-up, there- fore, all the cars would have to horm and approach at nearly the same speed simultaneously, which condition 18 80 exceptional as to be negligibl “That might solve the ddle,” Smith agreed. “As it works now in practice the right of way seems to 0 to the man. who gets there first. ‘hey might as well carry automobile selfishn to its logical conclusion and make blowing your own horn a requisite. Besides; it might serve to wake up some of these drivers we meet every- day on the streets and the highways who forget they have horns on their cars and why it is necessary to blow them." Next week:—"Home Again.” be, the Ullman Featurs (Copyright, 1023, .:y e One Thing at & Time. From the Chicago N Our professor in chemistry was very forgetful. He got married at 9 pm., and after the wedding supper, while’ the bride was changing into traveling costume, the new husband 327 13th Street N.W. 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