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That portion of Franklin avenue which bounds the park on the 

 south, and divides it from the Kings County Parade Ground has been 

 remodeled and improved. Special effort has been made to secure 

 economy of construction, with the expectation of a reasonably good 

 and durable roadway. The width of the avenue is now one hundred 

 feet, fifty feet of which is devoted to sidewalk— (thirty feet on the 

 park side and twenty feet on the parade ground side) — and fifty feet 

 to roadway. 



The excavation was made to a depth of fifteen inches below the 

 finished grade, over the entire roadway, and this depth was filled 

 with a coarse material, from our lake excavation, which was com- 

 posed entirely of sand, gravel and stones, varying in size from the 

 finest sand to stone of from six to eight inches in diameter. In 

 making the fill, care was taken to rake forward the stones and coarse 

 gravel into the bottom, thus leaving a surface of a firmer, although 

 porous, material. Upon the surface thus prepared, a layer of about 

 one-fourth of an inch of loom was placed, and the whole thoroughly 

 rolled with rollers varying from three to seven tons in weight. The 

 result is a drive not equal to the park drives in many respects, but 

 still a very great improvement upon the ordinary roads of the coun- 

 try. The curb and gutter is like that generally used in the city, and 

 is carefully laid, and the road, for a distance of five feet from either 

 gutter, is paved with cobble stones. 



• No experiments with new kind of roads have been made during 

 the season. The sample laid by the Scrimshaw Patent Concrete 

 Company in October, 1867, has been in constant use since, and in 

 addition to the ordinary park driving, it has been subjected to the 

 wear incident to the transportation over it of several thousand yards 

 of material, in carts and wagons. It has constantly improved under 

 this treatment, and is at the present time in good condition. The 

 sample laid by the Fiske Pavement and Flagging Company has not 

 answered so good a purpose, the surface having to some extent dis- 

 integrated and worn away. The circumstances under which this was 

 tried were, however, very unfavorable to the pavement, as it was 

 put into use within an hour after it was laid, (at the time of opening 

 the first park drives), and it should have had time to become hard 

 before being used. I think it would be well to try experiments with 

 any style of roads that promises to be an improvement upon gravel 

 roads. Perhaps nothing better than a gravel road, when in good 

 condition, could be desired ; but a kind of road surface which will 

 reduce the cost of maintenance certainly is desirable. The expense 

 of maintaining gravel roads is very great. The gravel disintegrates 



