42 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
CONSTRUCTION and MAINTENANCE of BOULEVARDS 
Under the provisions of the charter, 
the city is divided into park districts and 
the money for the maintenance of the 
boidevards is raised by a levy on the land 
values of real estate in that district. This 
gives a constant fund in which to main- 
tain the boulevards without going through 
the red tape so often encountered in mu- 
From Report to Kansas City Park Board by 
Ralph R. Benedict, Assistant Executive Officer. 
(Continued:) 
sued through the Park Board office and 
when these excavations are ready for back- 
filling the office is notified at least 4 
hours in advance of such work in order 
that an inspector may be sent out to see 
that the back-filling is properly tamped dry 
and in small layers to insure a cut that 
will not settle after being repaired. The 
thick. No scarifying or picking is done. 
After the surface has been sufficiently 
rolled to thoroughly key the stone, gal- 
lons of asphaltic cement, which conforms 
to the specifications previously mentioned, 
is poured by means of hand-pouring pots. 
Over this is cast limestone grit of to 
of an inch in size and rolled. The ex- 
KARNES BOULEVARD AT ENTRANCE TO ROANOKE PARK, KANSAS CITY, MO. 
nicipal work. Maintenance is by means 
of the patrol system. This patrolling is 
done by repair crews consisting of four 
men, one three horse wagon, one small 
tandem roller, one small portable kettle, 
which constantly makes the rounds of the 
boulevards and park roads, fixing every 
break in the road surface no matter how 
small. These wagons are mounted on low 
gears and have special beds divided into 
3 compartments, one compartment for the 
rock and large enough to hold 2,700 
pounds, one compartment for grit of such 
size as to hold 5,400 pounds and the third 
for asphalt with a storage capacity of 3 
barrels. The small kettle has a capacity 
of 150 gallons and is so constructed as to 
provide for the addition of asphalt from 
time to time, thus maintaining a constant 
supply of the hot asphalt. These repair 
crews also patch all the cuts of the public 
service corporations made in the roadway 
of the boulevard. All excavation in the 
boulevards are controlled by permits is- 
proper care of excavations is a very im- 
portant detail in the proper maintenance 
of boulevard surfaces, for there is as much 
damage caused by these excavations as 
there is from wear due to traffic. 
Before the advent of the patrol system 
of maintenance, which has only been 
adopted during the past two years, a num- 
ber of the boulevards were in such condi- 
tion that resurfacing was necessary. This 
resurfacing is accomplished by park forces 
and consists of placing 2^2 inches of 
crushed limestone on top of the old sur- 
face in the following manner : the boule- 
vard is thoroughly swept with a rotary 
street broom to remove such fine particles 
of dust and oil that have accumulated. 
Along each gutter a strip is excavated to 
such a width and depth as to permit the 
application of 2>2 inches of stone. This 
stone is native limestone of Y/z to 2 inches 
in size and is placed on the old surface 
at least two stones thick, which, after roll- 
ing, gives a finished surface of 2^2 inches 
cess grit is then swept off and a seal coat 
of ^2 gallon of asphaltic cement of the 
same grade is poured and grit used and 
rolled as before. A good many thousand 
yards of this resurfacing has been done 
by the park maintenance force. As an ex- 
periment only one pouring of asphaltic 
cement was used in the first resurfacing 
work, but after one season it was neces- 
sary to go back and finish the work as 
above outlined. This work was done at 
a cost of about 40 cents per square yard 
for the first treatment and 15 cents for 
the seal coat, with prices the same as 
above quoted. There are a number of 
these resurfaced boulevards that have been 
finished for two years and they are in as 
good condition as when first constructed. 
On one boulevard, which is subjected to 
very heavy traffic on account of the ab- 
sence of any directly parallel streets, a 
resurfacing contract w'as let that called for 
a different material in the top course. A 
Wisconsin granite w^as specified for the 
A 
