Concrete Roads
and Their Construction

78 CONCRETE ROADS A Factory at Southampton.—Fig. 51 shows a concrete road laid down at an important factory at Southampton. The road runs the whole length of the main buildings, some 2.500 ft. in all. During the construction of the factory, which was a Govern- ment rolling mills, a hard core roadway had been formed approxi- mately on the same lines as the new concrete road, for which a good foundation had thus been prepared. Preparatory to starting work on the concrete road, the top of the hard core was picked over, screened, levelled and rolled. Concrete kerbs which had previously been cast in moulds were then laid on a concrete bed on either side of the new road, and served as forms for the concrete. The roadway itself is 10 ft. wide between the kerbs, with double width passing-place, and consists of 6 : 1 cement concrete 10 in. thick, laid direct on the hard core referred to. No reinforcement of any kind was used, but th© concrete was deposited in alternate sections 10 ft. 8 in. in. Isngth and the full width of the road. Upon this was laid a surface coat, 2 in. in thickness, consisting of granolithic paving. When, these sections had set, the inter- vening portions were laid, in a similar manner. The traffic is of the heaviest and consists of motor wagons up to 10 and 12 tons in weight with broad flanged metal wheels. The Portsea Island Gas Works, Portsmouth—The Portsea Island Gas Light Company early in 1919 decided to lay a reinforced concrete roadway in Green Lane, a public thoroughfare for tho mainten- ance of which the Company is responsible. The road, which carries a fair amount of heavy traffic, including tractors, steam wagons and motor lorries, was originally of water-bound macadam but this had been repaired and patched many times, and its con- dition was very bad ; a trial length in reinforced concrete was therefore recommended. The eastern, half of the road, extending from the Gas Works entrance to the railway crossing, was put down in concrete, the remaining half, over which the same amount of traffic passes, being laid in water-bound macadam, in order to obtain comparative results. The concrete portion measures 725 ft. in length and 22 ft. in width between the kerbs. Manholes were provided where necessary at the crown of the road, and gulleys were placed on both sides bedded in Portland cement concrete foundations. Work was commenced on the site in June, 1919, and as it was