Concrete Roads
and Their Construction

FOREWORD One of the most pressing problems of the time in connection with public works is that presented by the necessity for improved roads to meet the demands of modern traffic conditions, which have resulted from the enormous development of motor transport during recent years. The adoption of concrete is a serious attempt to grapple with this problem, which really resolves itself into a search for the ideal road, and so many of our thoroughfares and highways are insistently calling for speedy reconstruction that the present would seem to be an opportune time for approaching the question dispassionately and without prejudice, examining it in the light of recent experience and determining whether the time has not arrived for giving the concrete road a fair trial in this country. True, our acquaintance with modern traffic conditions has been brief, but, brief as it may be, it is sufficient to form a clear indication of our future needsand to serve as a guide for future methods. Frequent reference has been made in the public Press to the head- way made by concrete roads in America, where, owing to the wide adoption of motor transport, the road question has assumed serious proportions for years past. Thousands of miles of concrete road are in use there, and something like 75,000,000 sq. yds. are in con- templation during the present year. It cannot be supposed that a nation so keen at weighing up the possibilities of a business propo- sition would, after fourteen years’ experience, continue to lay these roads on such an extensive scale were they not entirely satisfied as to their efficiency and economy. As might have been expected, there were partial failures, particularly in America, in the early days, but only in this way is progress attained—and the progress has, indeed, been great, both in the United States and in the United Kingdom—and even to-day, greatly as methods have improved, no sane person would venture to say that concrete road practice has reached finality. vii