ROAD-MAKING FOR TOWNS.
A GOOD road is still a desideratum, at least one approaching to the ideal of a road for towns. Wood promised to be smooth, noiseless, and cleanly ; but either its adapters have been per- versely ineffective at their work, or it is impracticable, from its slipperiness, its rapid wear, and its cost. We observe that by St. James's Church in Piccadilly workmen have laid down a stony gravel over the wood, which may obviate the slipperiness ; though it can scarcely prevent the wear and tear. If the slip- periness be obviated, possibly wood may be retained for the im- mediate neighbourhood of churches and places where quiet is a paramount want ; but for the general streets the public must at present forego the hope of a flooring so cleanly and silent.
At the meeting of the British Association, Mr. J. P. Smith submitted a paper in praise of macadamized roads for the streets of large towns. Mr. Smith contends, that if the road be well con- structed, with stones bound together by grit ; if it be kept clean with brooms, not scrapers, used upon the surface while wet, so as to remove dirt but not the silicious grit ; and be kept moist, so as to retain its binding condition,—in such case, a macadamized road is durable, smooth, and cleanly. Mr. Whitworth's brush-machine is specially recommended, from its levelling tendency ; and some facts are stated which go to prove that a carefully tended road of the kind may be kept clean and level at a far less cost than is needed for the repair of neglected roads. The macadamized road is excellent for horses ; and it is said to occasion much less wear and tear for carriages than stone pavement, because the concus- sions are less harsh. The riding public are decidedly in favour of the macadamized road.
But a very important section of the public, the road-managing bodies, do not show signs of increasing affection for it : they com- plain, that at the best it is dusty in summer, muddy in winter, and costly at all times. They fall back upon stone-paving; and truly, the competition of wood and macadamizing has stimulated the art of stone-paving in a remarkable degree. There is a kind of paving with square slabs of granite laid edgeways, close and even, so as to form a gentle and exact arch, which approaches close to the merits of wood-paving in smoothness and quiet. A good specimen is now laid at the West end of the Strand ; but it has struck us that a piece in Broad Street, Bloomsbury—the main street of St. Giles's, now in great part superseded by new Oxford Street—was a still finer sample. The exactness of the surface minimized both the jar and noise of concussion ; and nothing, say road-commissioners, wears so well under hard traffic.
Further experiments may detect new improvements. Sub- stances may be found to give the macadamizing materials a closer binding. Contrivances might be imagined to deaden the sound of the granite. Or appliances may be directed to modify the carriages ; as indeed caoutchouc has already been used for the tires of wheels, with excellent effect as to preventing noise, and some, we believe, as to easing the motion. Or carriages may be wholly altered in plan, as in the case of those invented in Ame- rica, to be suspended from horizontal bars—a sort of suspensory railway. Experiments will not cease, and ought not to be re- laxed. Few things would add more to the comfort of large and frequented towns, than a pavement realizing the promise held out by the wood : the difficulty appears to have consisted in the cost of experiments which might prove fruitless, and in the want of an opportunity for an effective test. The failure of the wood companies is likely to deter speculative inventors ; and a really good invention may waste its excellence unseen for want of a fair trial. For pavement is not an article like hats or shoes, to be dealt in by units. There can be no doubt, however, that inven- tion will perpetually strive to supply so manifest a desideratum ; and that it would be much stimulated by the assurance even of the chance of some prize, or of a fair trial. London cannot be doomed for ever to the alternatives of slipperiness, mud, or noise ; and it would be pleasant to see some plan set on foot for expedit- ing her rescue.
Previous page
