Concrete Roads
and Their Construction

MECHANICAL DEVICES FOR MAKING ROADS 167 the gutter-end of the board rests on a board fixed to pegs in the ground and graded to the levels required for the gutters. Some engineers prefer to finish the surface by rolling, using a roller made of light sheet steel 8 in. diameter and 6 ft. long and weighing about 70 lb. The roller has a handle of such a length that the operator can stand at one side of the road and push or draw the roller completely across it, or two ropes may be attached to the shaft of the roller, so that it may be drawn across the road by a man on each side of the latter. The roller should not cross the road at right angles, but at such an angle that it advances about 2 ft. along the road at each crossing. It is usually necessary to roll the surface three times in this manner. An alternative method consists in drawing a belt of rubber or rubber-faced canvas at least 2 ft. longer than the width of the road and 8-12 in. wide, to and fro and longitudinally across the surface. The belt should be moved in strokes about 12 in. in length, across the road, the movement along the road longitudinally being very slight. In a second, similar application of the belt, the strokes should be quite short—only about 4 in.—and the movement along the road much greater than before. A popular method of finishing road surfaces in the United States is a combination of the two processes just described. Reinforcement Notes. The roads at the following places mentioned in this volume were reinforced with the British Reinforced Concrete Engineering Com- pany’s Fabric: Abergavenny, Bath, Belfast (3), Buckhurst Hill, Cardiff, Chester (3), Chisledon, Deptford, Dunfermline, Gravesend, Greenhithe, Loch Doon, Longhoughton, Melbourne, Mountnessmg, Newbury, Newportr-Cardiff, Portsea Island, Purfleet, Southampton, Swindon, Sydney, Taunton, Tilbury, Totnes-Paignton, Tredegar. The Expanded Metal Company’s Rib Steel Reinforcement was used in the following roads : Roberts Lane, Chester ; Marine Drive, Exmouth; Fish Quay, Padstow; and on the sea front, Sidmouth. Triangle Mesh was employed in the B road Portsea Island Gas Works, and Goods Yard, L.B. & S.C. Ry., East Croydon. The Walker-Weston Patent Pyramidal Interlocked Reinforcement at the Royal Victoria Dock (Port of London Authority). The other roads were reinforced on non-proprietary systems.