Road Pavements. 
37 
improved in this way ; the earliest portions of the work, ten 
years old, were then in good order, and it was proposed to 
lay fifteen and a half miles more in the same way. In this 
work the old macadam surface was first carefully levelled up 
and solidly rolled with any necessary amount of new metal 
and the surface stones set thereon in a half-inch bed of sand 
or fine gravel. These stones were dressed approximately to 
the form of cubes two and a half inches to three inches in 
the side. In practice, it was found that exactness of shape 
is not essential, but that special attention must be given to 
secure a good uniform foundation and that adjacent stones 
should have the same thickness. The system is equally 
applicable to the formation of new roads or the improvement 
of a worn-down macadam road, and is known as “ klein- 
pflaster,” or small paving, in Germany, and more recently in 
England as “armoured macadam.” Usually the joints are 
filled with sand, but unless it is of high specific gravity or 
possesses coherent qualities, it is apt to be displaced in dry 
weather. In Liverpool, pitch grouting has been found most 
satisfactory with kleinpfi aster. The Welsh Granite Co., 
Carnarvon, have lately introduced special machinery for the 
preparation of the stones used in this kind of construction. 
It is almost certain, having regard to experience with brick 
pavements, gained in Holland and in America, that excellent 
results at a moderate cost could be obtained in Great Britain 
by the use of small cubical bricks for kleinpflaster work, and 
there is a very hopeful field for investigation in this direction, 
as, with modern grinding and mixing machinery and brick 
kilns, bricks of great uniformity can be obtained. Roads 
with brick pavements are generally preferred in Holland, 
and they are very extensively used in the United States, 
where their cost, including a concrete foundation, is 6s. to 7s. 
a square yard. Professor Ira 0. Baker states that bricks made 
from shale are best, that brick pavements are adapted for all 
gradients, wear smoothly, and have been found to stand heavy 
traffic for more than ten years most satisfactorily. 1 
Road Pavements. 
A perfect pavement for roads and streets has not yet 
been obtained. The ideal pavement should be smooth to the 
wheel and rough to the hoof, almost noiseless and impervious, 
so that it may not absorb dirty water and, when drying, 
give off offensive emanations. The pavement of the future 
appears to be an asphaltic pavement containing a sufficient 
amount of grit or sharp sand to remove the difficulty often 
felt as to foothold for horses, which difficulty can be dealt 
1 See Public Works , Vol. IV., No. 3. 
