The Lancaster news. (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, May 11, 1915, Page 7, Image 7
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I Public
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Effective In Increasing
City's Heaithfulness
and Beauty?Also
Pays Best Cash
j- j Profits.
depth of the blocks and make them of
somewhat smaller size otherwise, thus
gendering It possible to get a better
cut block at the same expense as before
and allowing the blocks to be laid
IWlth a closer Joint, thus reducing abnormal
wear.
Wood Block Pavsments.
Wood pavements have been laid at
Intervals in this country for bo mo sevflply
years. The first pavements were
(|Ot only of untreated wood, but of
wood selected without much regard
for Its natural durability.
The first treated wood pavement In
this country was laid In Treinont
street, Boston, In 1900. This pavement
has been in use during this entire period,
with very sninll repairs, and Is In
good condition nt the present time.
. The present method of laying wood
pavements In this country lias not been
In use long enough to determine what
the cost of maintenance Is, but figures
obtained from St. Ix>uls, Mlnneuitolls
and other cities indicate that It Is exceedingly
small. It lias been given a
value as shown in the table below.
Brick Pavements.
The first brick i>avements in this
country were laid in "Wheeling, W. Ya.,
In 1870, but the material did not come
Into general use for some time. Many
failures have occurred In brick pavements
bccuuse people did not uudera'
stand the difference between bricks,
and It was not easy In the early days
of the Industry to determine previous
to Its use whether a certain brick
would or would not make u good pavement
Asphalt Pavements.
The first sheet asphalt pavement ot
any note was laid on Pennsylvania
avenue, Washington, in 1870. So great
was Its success that It soon came Into
general use all over the country. While
called asphalt puvement, It is almost
entirely composed of sand, as the
standard pavements have but 10 to 12
per cent of bitumen, which Is the valuable
property of the asphalt, the rest
being made up of sand and a small
portion of stone dust.
The pavement Is pleasing in appearance,
smooth, not noisy and on light
tralllc streets seems to be almost ideal.
? It is more slippery than the hard block
pavements, and in the coast cities it
Is not generally laid on grades over 11
or 4 per cent In the interior, however,
where the atmosphere contains less
moisture, it is often used on grades as
high as 7 percent without trouble.
Data collected from tho cities of
Brooklyn. Boston. Buffalo, Chicago,
New York. Phlhiflnlnhtn Kf T./mia ?? ,?!
Washington show that these* cities in
1800 hn?l a total of 240 miles of asphalt
pavement and In 1011 2,348 miles.
This gives an Idea of the popularity of
the pavement, although it must be taken
into consideration that this was
daring a period when there was great
activity In laying new and smooth
pavements. In Brooklyn, in 1805, there
were eighteen miles of asphalt pavement,
while at the present time there
are 540 miles. Brooklyn Is a reslden^
tial city, without many steep grades,
^ and one to which this material is par,
ttculorly adapted.
v /
Relative Costa.
The following table shows the coat
of different kinds of pavement for a
period of years, assuming that granite
has a life of twenty-five years, wood
twenty years, brick fifteen years and
asphalt eighteen years. This life, as
has been intimated before, Is probably
too small for Ohio brick pavements or
those in small cities:
Average
First Expense expense
cost, per yard per yard
square per year, per year.
Material, yard, first period, fifty years.
Granite 13 50 fO.m 90.370
Asphalt 3.00 0.208 0.1*4
Wood 3.GO a308 0.274
Brisk 2.50 0.224 AIM
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Another advantage of smooth streets
is that they fount heavily lu favor of
healthfulne8s. Half the advantage or
a sewerage system is lost unless there
are smooth pavements properly drained
Into the severs. The right kind of
pavements can be laid so that there is
literally no place for refuse and dirt;
rain washes them clean or they can
be flushed. Th?. dust and dirt of a
roadway are not only Injurious to
health, but they are a nuisance, especially
annoying ou motor traveled
highways.
Advertising Value of Good Streets.
Still another factor well worth taking
into account Is the advertising value
of well paved streets. No other Improvement
makes so Immediate an Impression.
The men who have been
most successful in suburban real estate
development say that there Is
nothing llko a good pavement and sidewalks
to make lots sell. These are
the things that people notice first.
Last spring a New York town lost
the biggest Industry It ever had a
chance to get because the men who
went there to look Into the prospects
for locating a plant found the streets
a sea of mud and were so prejudiced
by this condition that they went elsewhere
for their plant site.
These men were not going to live In
the town. They were not going to
j haul ever the town streets. But they
were looking for a live, progressive
town, and the advantages that the
abandoned location really possessed
were nil Ignored because of the unfavorable
impression made by unpaved
streets. Not reasonable, you say. Perhnps
not. but these are the facts
Clothes don't make the man, either,
but It Is hard for a shabby looking
man to get a good job. It is just as
bard for a city to attract business un
A STREET LIKE Tl
^^^qPAVir.c T HIS ST REE
^gg^lNCREMED PR OPE
( < 1
TWSA SO
DOUBLED 1 PROPERTY
THE LANCASTER NEWS
> less It looks prosperous and up to date.
Pavements do more to produce this
effect than any other Improvement.
Here Is what John Mac Vicar, exmayor
of Des Molues, la., says on this
subject in general, reinforcing his
opinion with an illuminating instance
as to the effect of u good pavement on
business:
Business Follows Paving.
"Observing business men. particularly
the retail merchant and the realty
agent, have learned that business
follows good pavements. This fact Is
particularly noticeable since the advent
of motorcars and the Important
passenger traffic this menns of transportation
has developed.
"The truth of the above was forcibly
brought to the attention of the property
owners and leaseholders on Walnut
street Des Moines' most Important
business street a little more than a
year ago. The pavement on this street
because of poor railway track construction
and other causes, became somewhat
defective, and it was plainly
seen that vehicle traffic avoided Walnut
street giving preference to its
most formidable rival. Locust street
which had a better pavement A petition
for the Immediate paving of Walnut
street (at the expense of property
abutting) with asphalt was promptly
signed by every local property owner.
Following the repaving of the street.
It was noticed there was a prompt return
of the traffic which naturally belonged
to it.
"Since this improvement was secured
for Walnut street the property owners
on Locust street have induced the
city council to extend n modem pavement
to the extreme west end of the
street and to remove an antiquated
and rough, though by no means wornIIS
IS A DISGRACE
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TIN A TENNESSEE CITY
RTY VALUES IMMENSELY
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JTH CAROLINA TOWN NEARLY
VALUES. -
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out. pavement, hoping thereby to re- nss
gain some of the lost ground." co|]
Start Right. the
It was said above that communities tyi
that once started to pave their streets Pai
properly never went backward. This thi
is strictly true, but note that word nni
PHOPEItLY. Where apparent exeep- on
tious to this rule are found it is also *'1C
discovered that what the backsliding
town tired of was not good paving, but co1
bad paving. Towns sometimes get 1,1
swindled or they try to save money on sm
their streets and tiud that there was ')r'
no saving, but that, on the contrary,
their money has been thrown away on K
Imitation asphalt or poor construction SU(
or some patent paving fad pf which n
nearly very year sees a new example. "
The cities that have the best pave- n '
ments have been laying tho same kind
with the same materials for more than P"
kni
a generation. They know, and when ^
their example is followed there is no
risk taken and no chance that any
community will regret its investment j"
and f?r? hnplf Into tho mud nod duo*
Property owners, those who use and
pay for pavements, onght to know |
something about them and, possessing ^
that knowledge, to have something to }m
say about what their pavements shall gtn
be. Intelligent public opinion on pub- rj
11c improvements is the greatest as- or
suranee the community can have of wi
good work. Of course we must have rj
expert advice and assistance. But we j)e
must think for ourselves, too, and be ()a
able to tell experts and engineers what -<
we want them to do for us. jni
The places where money has been W(
wasted on paving are those places
where the people were too Indifferent to
demand what was best for them and
where, in consequence, somebody "put nu
one over." Itutted brick, cracked con- Ktl
crete, bulging wood block and raveling
Imitation asphalt are the poorest sorts
of investment. Beally good pavements *
are the best kind of investment, but
not to be obtained except by eternal
and intelligent vigilance. Be
gri
Washington's Experience.
.Washington, D. C., Is one of the best I
paved cities in the world, as it should pre
be as the capital of the United States. pe<
Captain Mark Brook, engineer commls- th<
sioncr of the District of Columbia, re- pai
cently told the members of the Engi- is
neers* club of Baltimore how Wash- of
ington had achieved its results. "Wash- yes
ington is a city of asphalt pavements," on!
lie said. "It has in round numbers ma
4.SOO.OOO square yards of street pave 3ir
meuts, of which 3,311,000 yards?150
miles?are sheet asphalt. It is safe to '
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THt KIHD OrPKVE.MEN
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iert that, cost and everything else
isldered. bituuiiuous pavements of
sheet asphalt or usphaltic maeadam
>e are as near the ideal form of I
foment as any we nave, anil I also
nk that anions the eastern cities the
ount of such pavement may be talcas
an indication of the condition of
ir streets.
Washington pavements will bear
uparlson with any 1 have seen, both
cost and quality. Such measure of
cess as we have attained has been
uclpally due to the fact that our
ring problems have always been enleering
questions and not political ls?s;
that we have very largely coned
our efforts and expenditures to
improvement of a single type well
ipted to local conditions." '
)thers have paid for experience In 1
ring. The advantages are too well 1
own to require further proof. We,
common with other progressive com- 1
initios, want good pavements. The '
estlon is not. Can we afford them? 1
is. Can we afford to do without 1
un? !
This newspaper intends to keep this 1
bjeet to the fore until it can be said
it this community, at tho least, is 1
long the best paved towns in the 1
ite.
Chose who may now be indifferent
even opposed to this improvement <
11 soon be converted.
Those who are already with us can
lp by circulating the gospel of good
vements on all occasions.
EVatch for the special articles on pav?
that will appear from week to
?ek in these columns.
The transformation wrought in a :
inber of cities hi Indiana by good
eets has made reputations for them
lich arc the envy of other communis.
lood streets in Evansvillc, MLshawa
, i>t?w (jostie, wauasn, Fort Wayne, I
fayette, Garrett, Auburn, South '
nd, Michigan City, Peru and Lo- ;
nsport, where asphalt predominates, '
n all the central west there Is no I
igressive town or city the ambitious |
>ple of whicli do not feel a pride in
?ir public thoroughfares, and this Is ;
rtly because the measure of progress
so often taken from the character
streets. Permanent paving, a few
irs ago thought to be practicable
ly in the larger cities, is now deluded
wherever there is a people de- j 1
ous of keeping up with the times.
77!
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PUTTING PAVING ON j
SYSTEMATIC BASIS
I
Now I niiiolano I qui o MnHnl
nun uuuioiuiiu UQIf 0 IT1UU0I
For Other Communities.
New Orleans has Just begun work
under a new paring law which represents
Improvement and progress toward
the systematizing of city paving
work. The essential features of the
law are that prior to the 1st of September
the city must make Its plans
for all the street paving that Is to be M
lone during the succeeding calendar /fl '
year. After the bids are opened they
are published for a month, and the
property owners are given an opportunity
to petition for the typo of pavement
that they desire. Thereafter certificates
are sold against the assessments
for the work, and the proceeds
of the sale of the certificates are used
to pay the contractors.
The assessment proceedings are to
be finished before the beginning of the
work, thus financing the property
owners' portion and doing away with
the troublesome tax lien. The bonds
sold In anticipation of the collection
of the property owners' share of cost
rest not only for their security on the
fund created by the assessment, but
are made by law an obligation of the
cny ami given n specnic nen against
the city's reserve funds. They may
be sold as low as 93, thus facilitating
their prompt disposal at times when
the bond market is below normal.
This amounts to making up in advance
a plan for the ainouut of paving to be
done and types of pavements, as well
as the financing of a year's work.
It is provided that bids are to be taken
on a great many types of pavements,
for which detailed specifications
are legalized. These specifications
include sheet asphalt, asphaltic ^
concrete, cement concrete, rock asphalt,
mineral rubber and wood block.
havo won a recognition impossible to
be attained by adherence to old methods.
What has been accomplished in those
cities can be accomplished here. The
Indiana cities are cited merely as examples.
Hundreds of other cities in
other states nllonl proof that where
there is a will for good pavements
there is a way to get them.
Never Too Late or Too Early.
It is never too late or too early in a
city's life to begin paving. Since this
scries of articles was begun a correspondent
has called our attention to
the fact that Urbana, O., was 100
years old before it began paving Its
streets in the spring of 1914. The Urbana
banker who sends this information
says that the improvement has
brought several new mercantile estab- "
llshincnts to the city anil that next
year it will lay from 40,000 to CO,000
yards of additional asphalt paving.
From the mayor of another Oldo
town?but a much smaller one, Wauseon,
with a population of only 2,700?
comes the information that tlio paving
of nine Btreets with bituminous macadam
last year has increased the value
of property by 40 per cent and led to
the determination to do more paving
In 1915. "The people hero did not
know what a pretty town this could be
uiiui uiey got gooa streets. Now they
would not give them up for twice their
cost"
That Is the way It goes. If every one
could seo what pavements would do
for Ills street there would bo no question
about going ahead with the work.
Look at the photographs of beautifully
paved streets on this page. If you are
now living on an unpaved or poorly
paved roadway plcturo how much more
attractive your street would be with.a
smooth, clean surface.
To promote health, beauty and progress
let us all get together for good
pavements In 1915.
More Evidence Fcrthcoming.
More evidenco If needed will be
forthcoming to prove to those In doubt
that nothing will boqm this community