MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



15 



CONCRETE ROADS ARE COMING. 



The Wayne County Board of Read Commis- 

 sioners is watching closely the effect of the 

 present hard winter on the three pieces of 

 cement road built by the commission last year. 

 If the results are up to expectations, the com- 

 missi-cn will probably confine its work to this 

 type of road on all of the thoroughfares lead- 

 ing out of Detroit. There is a stretch of one 

 mile of concrete road on Woodward avenue, 

 1,500 feet on the Grand River road, and about 

 half a mile on the Wayne road south. Wood- 

 ward avenue and Grand River roads are laid 

 in two courses, the bottom course being 4 

 inches deep, of a 1-2^-5 mix, using limestone, 

 with a wearing surface 2 inches thick of a 

 1-2-3 mix, using crushed cobbles. Wayne road 

 is built in one course, 6 inches deep, of a 1-2-4 

 mix, using washed pebbles. Expansion joints 

 have been put in every 25 feet. The Wayne 

 Courtty Road Commission believes that an 

 almost ideal road is feasible if proper methods 

 are used in the use of concrete. It has a com- 

 paratively low first cost, has a low mainten- 

 ance cost, is economically and easily cleaned, 

 is not as noisy as brick or stone, affords good 

 traction for horse and motor vehicle, and is 

 comparatively dustless, there being no detritus 

 from the concrete itself. In the future it will 

 command considerable more attention than it 

 has during the past. With its increasing use, 

 there is no doubt that a specification will be 

 devised which will make it a popular and low- 

 priced form of road. 



Concrete for paving is certainly coming into 

 use. The city of Bellefontaine, O., in 1893 

 paved two streets with concrete and the fol- 

 lowing year two more were paved. The streets 

 are yet in good condition. Richmond, Ind., 

 began using concrete for paving in 1896 and is 

 so well satisfied that a small amount is laid 

 each year. Jackson, Mich., in 1907, built a 

 small amount of concrete pavement on a wide 

 street used largely for heavy teaming, and it 

 has been called upon to carry probably the 

 heaviest traffic of the city. The pavement is 

 in a first-class condition today, and looks good 

 for many more years of heavy wear. 



At Lemar>. la., a -mall amount of concrete 

 pavement was laid in 1904. and a careful in- 

 spection shows it to be in better condition 

 than an adjoining brick pavement laid at about 

 the same time. The cost of laying the two 

 forms of pa\-ement was $1.25 per square yard 

 of concrete, and $2.06 per square yard of brick, 

 which is a very low cost for a brick pavement. 



Allentown, Pa., the city of Panama, Boze- 

 man, M'ont., the city of Chicago, New Orleans, 

 La., Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Hancock, 

 Mich., and Sioux Falls, la., together with a 

 number of other cities and towns, have laid 

 concrete pavements varying from a few hun- 

 dred yards to a ccuple of miles. Probably the 

 most extensive bit of concrete road in the 

 country is at Gary, Ind.. where three miles 

 were laid in 1906 and 1907 on the principal 

 streets of this modern city. The traffic over 

 them has been quite heavy, and they have 

 worn remarkably well. 



The Board of Commerce -of Flint wants the 

 best there is in the line of good roads. It does 

 not approve the action of the board of super- 

 visors of Genesee county in providing for 

 gravel roads. The board in a communication 

 to the supervisors says: "We feel that any ex- 

 penditure for gravel is little beter than a tem- 

 porary makeshift; that it gives the county 

 nothing in the way of a permanent improve- 

 ment and that the taxpayers will have little or 

 nothing to show for the money thus invested. 



We believe the money which is going to be 

 available for road building in Genesee county 

 during the coming few years would be most 

 wisely expended if it were to be used for 

 macadamizing some of the various highways 

 in this county. 



The executive committee of the County 

 Good Roads Association reports that it has 

 been pledged about $750 per mile for every 

 mile cf state reward road that is built in Wex- 

 ford county in the next three years in addition 

 to the $500 allowed by the state. Members of 

 the association declare that they are confident 

 that the organization will be able to do a very 

 effective work which will aid materially in 

 building in the county in the coming years 

 many miles of good roads. 



The board of supervisors of Allegan county 

 refused to follow the lead of Kalamazoo 

 county and employ the prisoners in the county 

 jail on road work. The plan has worked well 

 in KalamazoD county and undoubtedly will be 

 tried 'by the more progressive counties in the 

 state. 



The graveling of the mile of state reward 

 road in Grand Traverse county near the Ren- 

 nie school house has been completed; also on 

 the Ransom road. The East Bay road is now 

 one-half graveled. The plan of hauling the 

 gravel on sleighs and dumping it on the snow 

 has proved effective and economical. 



Kalamazoo county prisoners are engaged 

 during fhe winter months in manufacturing 

 tiles for the county road commission. It is 

 expected that enough tile will be turned out 

 to supply the needs of the commission for the 

 coming season. 



A movement is on foot to bond Fife Lake 

 township. Grand Traverse county, for $5,000 

 for road improvement, the work to be done 

 this year. 



The residents of Clyde and Fort Gratiot 

 townships, St. Clair county, have won the first 

 round in their fight against the Clyde Plank 

 & Macadamized Road Company. The circuit 

 court has granted an injunction restraining the 

 company from collecting toll. The farmers of 

 the township claimed that the road had not 

 been kept in proper repair. 



Despite the fact that the Oakland county 

 board of supervisors refused the petition of 

 Royal Oak to build four miles of state award 

 road in that township this year, the improve- 

 ment will probably be made. The proposition 

 made to the supervisors was that if it would 

 contribute $20.000 the state would pay $4,000 

 and private individuals $16,000, making $40,000 

 in all. It was proposed to improve the Wood 

 ward avenue road from the Wayne county line 

 four miles north. The advocates of good 

 roads have been extremely active since the 

 board turned down the proposition, and it is 

 said that the entire amount needed will be 

 raised by private subscripticTT. With this four 

 miles taken care of there will be a continuous 

 stretch of good road from Detroit to Pontiac. 



cover as much territory as possible, and says 

 that the roads will be kept open and in much 

 better condition for travel than ever before 

 during the coming winter. 



ROAD DRAGS GOOD SNOW LEVELERS. 



Road Commissioner Godfrey expects to do 

 considerable work on the county roads in 

 Chippewa county during the winter, especially 

 in graveling, which can be done much cheaper 

 on sleighs than by wagons. For instance, the 

 road between Stirlingville and Rudyard will 

 be graveled and improved so far as possible. 

 The Stirlingville bridge has been made ready 

 for the steel, which will be put on the first 

 thing in the spring. 



Mr. Godfrey is elated over the work accom- 

 plished by the road drag which he recently 

 tried out. In the past it has been necessary 

 to use a grader on the county roads after 

 heavy snow falls to make them passable, 

 which was accomplished at great expense. 

 With the road drag one man with a team of 

 horses will do eight miles of road in a day, 

 which formerly took two men and three teams 

 with a grader to perform. From 12 to 15 

 drags can be made, for the price of one 

 grader, and Mr. Godfrey has placed an order 

 for a number of these drags. He proposes to 



MICHIGAN ROAD NOTES. 



At the special election held in Douglass, 

 Montcalm county, to vote on the proposition 

 to authorize the township board to pay $300, 

 as agreed ,for the new state reward gravel 

 road just completed in that township, the 

 proposition was defeated by two votes. There 

 are some people who are mighty glad to have 

 fine roads to drive over but they want the 

 other fellow to pay for building them. 



The mile of gravel road west of the village 

 of Montrose has been accepted by the engi- 

 neer of the state highway commission. Mr. 

 Smith, the engineer who looked over the road, 

 said it came up to all requirements and that 

 the state reward of $500 would be paid, and 

 that Mr. Eckles, highway commissioner, who 

 had the job in charge, was to be congratulated 

 on the excellent job done. 



Livingston county voted strongly against 

 adopting the county road system this spring, 

 and possibly that may have been wise, but the 

 fact remains that we are all paying pretty well 

 in our taxes towards building good roads in 

 other counties and getting nothing for our- 

 selves in return for our money. Fowlerville 

 Review. 



The proposition to bend the township of 

 Rediord, Wayne county, for $30,000 to build 

 13 miles of new roads was carried at the town- 

 ship election. Seven miles of the Grand River 

 road will be rebuilt with macadam, Plymouth 

 road will be part gravel and part macadam. 



The Lansing Business Men's Association 

 has accepted and paid for the repairs to the 

 Michigan Agricultural College road, which 

 was rebuilt by a Cincinnati concern last fall. 

 The road is in good shape and the company 

 has put up a guarantee that it will keep the 

 highway in repair for 18 months. The associ- 

 ation paid but $1,500 for the work, although 

 the company is said to have expended about 

 $6.000 in the demonstration of its work. 



Kalamazoo county has made application for 

 state awards on 20 miles of good roads which 

 the Kalamazoo County Road Commission will 

 build this year. The road work will be well 

 distributed over the county. 



The use of convict labor in the construction 

 of roads, which was strongly advocated by the 

 National Roads Association at its recent con- 

 vention at Topeka, Kas.. has already been put 

 in force by the state of Colorado with good 

 results. A camp of 100 convicts is located 15 

 miles south of Colorado Springs on the Canon 

 City road. 



It is believed that if the county good roads 

 system is submitted to the people of Jackson 

 county this spring it will carry. It was de- 

 feated a year ago through a misunderstanding 

 on the part of a large number of voters of the 

 terms of the law. 



The board of supervisors of Ogemaw county 

 has appointed George Eymer. of Prescott; 

 Martin Lupton, of Lupton, and John Decker, 

 of West Branch, county road commissioners. 



The Order of Gleaners, at their annual meet- 

 ing held in Saginaw this month, adopted a 

 resolution in which the employment of state 

 convicts upon the improvement of public high- 

 ways was recommended. The officers were 

 instructed to secure facts and figures in other 

 states and work for the enactment of a law 

 making it possible to employ convicts on road 

 building. 



