Concrete Roads
and Their Construction

IN THE UNITED KINGDOM—PROVINCIAL 21 to lay a further reinforced concrete road right through the main thoroughfare of the City of Chester, namely, Foregate Street and Eastgate Street. Foregate Street and Eastgate Street, Chester.—This street takes all the through traffic from Manchester, Warrington and Liverpool to North Wales, and, speaking roughly, there is not less than 1,500 tons of traffic passing over the roadway each day. Along the centre of these streets is a double line of tramway track which was concreted in at the same time. So far, only a portion of the road has been completed and opened to traffic, but up to now the results have been all that were anticipated. Very careful observations are being made, and in the event of any defect developing it will be possible, from the statistics obtained, to find the cause and so remedy it in the future. The sanction of the Local Government Boai’d was received to do this work, and the Road Board have shown their interest in the experiment by granting the full estimated amount for carrying it out, viz., £5,000. The reconstruction of this road was estimated for early in 1919, at a cost of Ils. 3d. per super, yard, but up to now the cost has been 12s. 9d per super, yard ; this is owing to the increase in the cost of materials and of labour. If this scheme proves a success, application will be made for permission to deal with eight miles of roads in Chester in a similar manner. Mr. Matthews Jones stated in his paper that if the eight miles of roads are reconstructed with reinforced concrete, the estimated cost will be 13s. per super, yard, making a total of £82,368. If the work were done with granite sett paving on concrete foundation he could not, in Chester, estimate a lower cost than 25s. per super, yard, or a total of £158,400 ; or, again, if it were done with tar-macadam, including a foundation, 17s. per super, yard, or a total cost of £107,712. The method adopted for laying this main street was as follows : The concrete was mixed in the proportion of 5 to 1. The granite used was of the following sizes : 1| in., 1 in., j in., and | in. These were mixed in equal proportions. The concrete consisted of 3 J of granite, 1J of clean sharp sand, to 1 of cement. When the concrete surface had been completed—-that is, after it had been trammelled to the contour and allowed to set—the surface was tar-sprayed and covered with l-in. granite chippings. Our two illustrations, Figs. 12 and 13, show the road in course of construction, and a portion of same after completion,