625.8 W25 The person charging this material is r - sponsible for its return to the library from which it was withdrawn on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Thef., =nd ’•"“'‘I « . netSon and BRICK PAVEMENTS. *" -■ • m • --- Very active efforts have been made in the last few years to promote the use of brick as a material for street pavements. Large sums of money have been expended in a number of American cities in con¬ structing such pavements, and these experiments are being watched with great interest. That the use of brick for pavements is yet in the experimental stage few will deny, and while these experiments have not progressed far enough to be conclusive, a careful study of the facts that have accumu¬ lated from experience up to the present time may be of interest to city officials and property owners, and may aid them in arriving at a correct opinion on the subject. The arguments in favor of brick pavements have been published broadcast and oft repeated. We desire to call attention to the facts and arguments on the other side of the question, and will try to present the matter fairly. The use of hard-burned common brick for street pavements is not very new, pavements of this character having been put down a dozen years since. It is, we believe, almost universally admitted by civil engineers and by city officials, who have examined the subject with any care, that the use of such brick as a material for street pavements, where the travel is not extremely light, has proved a failure. We shall not, therefore, take up time and space with their consideration. The use, for paving streets, of a superior quality of vitrified or semi- vitrified brick, made from fire clay, or shale, dates back only a few years. It is to such brick only that we refer in what follows. While there is now a large area of pavements laid with such brick, they have not yet been long enough in use to clearly demonstrate their measure of durability on streets of even moderate travel. Many such pavements have already failed, but fairness requires the statement that in some cases, at least, the failure was due to faulty construction, rather than to the brick itself. The experience so far recorded, and a careful study of all the facts involved, justify, we believe, the following conclusions : 2 /VVjA—WHEN PROPERLY CONSTRUCTED THE FIRST COST OF VITRI¬ FIED BRICK PAVEMENT IS NOT MATERIALLY BELOW THAT OF ASPHALT PAVEMENT. Good construction requires a p;:oper preparation of the street bed, the making of a good foundation, the rigid inspection of the brick used, care in laying them in the best manner, and the filling of the joints between the brick with a water-tight cement. No pavement, whatever its material may be, can give good results without a good foundation. It is just as necessary as is a good founda¬ tion for a house, or a bridge, or any other structure. A foundation of broken stone, from six to ten inches deep, has sometimes been used for brick pavements with fairly good results, but experience is proving that nothing short of a bed of good hydraulic concrete from four to six inches thick will secure the necessary solidity of foundation. If such a foundation is used, and proper attention is given to the other require¬ ments enumerated above, it is safe to say that a first-class brick pave¬ ment cannot be put down for a price less than from $2.10 to $2.60 per square yard, varying with the prices of materials in the various citiesr^ Contract prices for brick pavement in various cities, laid under specifications requiring work of the quality described above, show that these figures are correct. As the usual price of Standard Trinidad Asphalt Sheet Pavement ranges from $2.30 to $2.40 per square yard, for the “ Standard Light” and from $2.75 to $3.00 per square yard, for the “ Standard Fleavy ” it will be seen that brick pavements have but little advantage in first cost. Note.—P eople often form erroneous conclusions about the relative cost of different kinds of pavement from the fact that bids are not called for upon the same basis. Thus the price for asphalt pavement usually covers the excavation required, the rolling of the sub-grade, the laying of the concrete foundation and the asphalt surface complete, while in the case of stone and brick pavements prices are asked for upon each of these items separately, and the sum of these prices represents the price that should be com¬ pared with the price named for asphalt pavement. Thus for the brick pavement laid on Main Avenue, Avondale (a suburb of Cincin¬ nati), the prices paid the contractors for the above items, and the cost of each required for one square yard of brick pavement is shown in the following table : Items. Contractor, M. Sullivan. Contractor, Boyce & Adams. Price Bid. Cost for I sq. yd. Pavement. Price Bid. Cost for I sq. yd. Pavement. 123 ^ inches excavation, per cubic yard. Rolling sub-grade, per square yard. Six inches concrete, per cubic yard. Brick pavement proper, per square yard. Rolling completed pavement, per square yard.. $ .36 .05 4.10 1.90 .05 $ .12,2 .05 .68,3 1.90 .05 $ .20 .04 3.86 1.76 .03 $ .06,9 .04 .64,2 1.76 .03 Total cost per square yard of pavement complete. $2.80,6 $2.63,1 3 The price for asphalt pavement complete, embracing the corresponding items, would be, for the same street : For Standard Heavy Pavement, - - $ 3.15 per square yard. “ “ Light “ - - 2.60 “ VITRIFIED BRICK PAVEMENTS ARE NOT DURABLE UNDER MODERATELY HEAVY TRAVEL. No brick pavement of any kind lias endured for any consider¬ able period upon a heavily-traveled street. The following facts bearing on this point have been collected : In the summer of 1885 one square of Pearl Street, from Race to Elm, in Cincinnati, Ohio, was paved with West Virginia fire-clay brick. The pavement was put down as a sample by the contractors upon the condition that it was not to be paid for until its durability had been demonstrated. The pavement was laid on a foundation of broken stone and gravel ten inches thick, and the joints between the bricks were filled with hot paving pitch. Under the moderately heavy travel to which the pavement was subjected, it was entirely worn out before the end of three years, and was taken up and replaced with granite. During the summer of 1887 a part of East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio, was paved with Trinidad Asphalt with a strip of brick pavement about ten feet wide on each side, along the curbing. The brick used was “ Hayden Block,” which is believed to have no superior among paving brick. The blocks were carefully selected and rigidly inspected by the city authorities, and set upon a foundation of hydraulic con¬ crete six inches thick, and the joints filled with paving pitch. Notwith¬ standing the fact that nearly all the travel is confined to the smooth asphalt in the centre of the street, the brick pavement is rapidly failing, owing to the crushing and disintegration of the blocks, and it is very evi¬ dent that this brick pavement will be worn out long before the asphalt pavement in the heavily-traveled portion of the street. Note. —Since the first publication of the above, it has been claimed that the rapid destruction of the Hayden Block pavement in this case has been due to teamsters and horse owners preferring to drive over the brick pavement, and that, consequently, the ' greater part of the travel, particularly in the summer season, was confined to the Hayden Block pavement. To ascertain the truth of this claim a census of travel over the street was taken by disinterested persons in January, i 8 gi, and again in the early part of September, 1891 , to determine exactly what part of the travel went over the Llayden Block. The observers were instructed to count as going over the Hayden Block all vehicles that passed over the block pavement wholly or partly. That is, if a vehicle passed with one wheel on the asphalt and one on the Hayden Block it was counted as going over the latter. The results were as follows : 4 Asphalt. Hayden Block. Percentage of Whole Amount of Travel Carried per Square Foot by Each. Total Tons. Tons Per Square Foot. Total Tons. Tons Per Square Foot. Asphalt. Hayden Block. Jan. 18,’91. 1482.23 49.41 96.01 4.83 91.1 8.9 Sept. 18, ’91. 2479.80 82.67 132.90 6.64 94i.6 7.6 It is, therefore, a fact that the Hayden Block is subjected to less than one-tenth of the travel passing over the asphalt pavement. In 1886 the intersection of Washington and Dearborn Avenues, Chicago, was paved with ‘‘ Hayden Block,” put down as a sample to prove its capacity to stand heavy travel. In about two years it was entirely worn out, and was replaced by other pavement. Perhaps no city in the United States has indulged in brick pave¬ ments in greater variety and to a greater extent than Columbus, Ohio. Some of the fire-clay brick pavements there were regarded, when laid, as models of their kind. Yet they are showing such signs of wear and failure that the City Engineer stated before the Board of Public Works, a short time since, that in his opinion, “the time would come when it will be necessary for all brick pavements to be covered with asphalt.” The Columbus Herald^ of May 4th, 1890, contained the following article: “IN BAD ORDER. “A PUBLIC SENTIMENT GROWING IN THIS CITY AGAINST FIRE-BRICK PAVEMENTS. A FEW EXAMPLES OF POOR WORK. “ There is a sentiment growing in Columbus against the use of fire¬ clay brick pavements. Some wretched bad work has either been done in this city during the past four years, or else the material used should not be put into pavements. Fire-clay is practically infusible, and has been used for ages for the backs of grates, the lining of furnaces and other places where something was needed to withstand great heat. Such being the case, the West Virginia idea of making paving brick out of fire clay by burning it seems incongruous. “ To get an idea how these fire-clay pavements are wearing one has only to examine State and Fourth Streets, two of our main thorough¬ fares, and it will be seen that they are full of holes and ruts. In some places the action of frost and the grinding of wheels has reduced a great many bricks to powder. Fourth Avenue, a residence street, was paved with West Virginia brick only last year at a biff cost, and 5 now the property owners have signed a petition asking- for the roadway to be surfaced with asphalt so they can have a decent road¬ way, as the brick has given out. Neil Avenue and Front Street, between Main and Mound, are examples of the failure of this class of brick to stand the wear. In a word, fire-clay brick have been given a thorough test in Columbus and found wanting.” This opinion seems to be shared by the city officials of Columbus, as the following letter from Hon. E. L. Hinman, President of the Board of Public Works shows. “BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS. “ Columbus, O., August 29, 1890. “ A. H. Mitchell, Esq., Cincinnati, O. “ Dear Sir :—Replying to your favor of the 26th inst., would say, there have been a good many streets of our city paved with brick of different makes and material. Some of them already show signs of early giving out. Others look as though they would give fair satisfaction. / am decidedly of the opinion that the asphalt pavements are the best and probably the cheapest in the end. The Hayden block, however, makes an excellent pavement. I believe it to be durable, and, except that it is noisy, would as soon have it as asphalt. In speaking with our City Engineer this morning in regard to your inquiry, he said that he thought it would be but a short tune before ive luould have to cover our brick pavements with asphalt to prese 7 've them. “ Yours truly, “E. L. HINMAN.” The following opinions of city officials are of interest in this con¬ nection. It is probable that some, at least, of the brick pavements particularly referred to were not of vitrified fire-clay brick, but we have no means of separating the one kind from the other. [Letter of March i, 1890 , from H. L. Alexander, late Principal Assistant Engineer of the City of Chicago, to S. H. Shearer, Indianapolis, Ind.] “ In answer to your inquiry regarding the use of brick for street paving in the City of Chicago, would reply, that during the past six years’ experience as engineer in the Bureau of Streets I have known several samples of brick to have been placed in various points on our streets with the result that they have utterly failed to withstand the traffic. As compared with asphalt, I consider the latter vastly superior, as it will withstand the heaviest traffic placed upon it.” Mr. E. B. Guthrie, Deputy City Engineer, Buffalo, N. Y., says : “ I believe brick pavement would suffice only for the lightest traffic, and its durability but short; while the asphalt is very durable, judging from our experience with it for eleven years, and suitable for all traffic.” 6 Gen. Jno. W. Turner, ex-Street Commissioner, St. Louis, Mo., says : “ A Mr. Latten, some years ago, laid at his own expense about fifty feet of brick pavement on Second Street, corner Pine. In about two months about twenty per cent, of the bricks were broken and fractured; in about a year, I think, or perhaps less, the pavement was removed and gave way to granite. Another trial was made on Pine Street, in the horse-path of the street railway ; these deported them¬ selves in about the same way. Still another trial was made at west approach of Eads Bridge. This was a complete failure ; it all went to pieces inside of a month. The diflBculty seems to he to get a uni¬ form temper or hardness, so that .all will wear alike. When in the street department, I always held back for the reason that I never could get reliable figures, and I Objected to laying ail experiment at the expense of adjoining property.” J. M. Reno, City Engineer, Youngstown, O., says: “Our asphalt pavement has been laid about seven years, and will, in my opinion, outlast the new brick pavement yet.” ^ [Extract from letter of December 4 th, 1888 , from Charles Harris, for seventeen years Superintendent of Streets in the City of Boston.] “ In answer to your letter of yesterday, I have to say that a small piece of the fire-brick pavement was laid in Boston on Winter Street last year, about fifty feet in length and eighteen to twenty feet in width. It already shows wear, the edges of the bricks being broken and bruised. “ This year Hamilton Place was paved with the same material. This is a private place, that is, has a dead end. You drive in, turn around, and drive out. Not more than fifty vehicles per day enter it, and these are light vehicles. In such a place as this the pavement may last several years, but, subject to travel, it can last but a short time. It is brittle, and is easily cracked and shivered. “ The above, Winter Street and Hamilton Place, are the only places where this pavement is laid in Boston. It is not likely that the city will lay any more of it.” Note. —The pavement on Winter Street, above referred to, was removed in the spring of i 8 go, after little over two years’ wear. In his annual report for the year 1889, Gen. Louis Wagner, Director of the Department of Public Works of Philadelphia, makes the follow¬ ing statement in reference to fire-brick pavements : “ The pavement next most popular in our city is of a material called ‘ vitrified brick,^ which, we are told, shows great wearing qualities in cities in the West. The Chief of the Bureau of Highways reports that ‘ the first pavement of this material was put down in this city in 1887, and already shows signs of wear that does not give much promise of its lasting qualities.’ This report, unfortunately for this class of pavement, is founded upon fact.” 7 The lack of durability, which the above evidence establishes, is not surprising nor difficult to explain. The wear and tear to which a heavily-traveled pavement is subjected is terrific. The hardest granite blocks are cut into grooves and worn out. Cast iron valve caps at the surface of the street are rapidly worn away and have to be replaced. How then can any brick, which, as compared with granite, is soft and brittle, be expected to long endure under like conditions ? The fact is that vitrified brick pavement has never yet been tried on a street having very heavy travel, except in the small sample areas mentioned above. d'he brick pavements, which have so often been quoted as examples of long endurance, are subjected to very light travel only, as the table below will show. This table is made up from an actual count of the travel on the streets. Name of Street. Kind of Pavement. Tons carried per sq. ft. per day. Chapline . Brick. 23 Sixteenth.... '. . .. do 18 Franklin. do 39 Second. .Cincinnati, Ohio . Granite. 196 Race. . do . Asphalt. 203 Main .-. . . do . do 103 Pennsylvania Ave. do 66 State . . Columbus, Ohio . Brick. 14 Fourth.. . . .. Ho ' . do 23 It will be noticed that the heavily-traveled streets, Race and Second, in Cincinnati, have carried more tons of travel in the four years since they were laid than the heaviest traveled of the much lauded brick pavements will carry in twenty to twenty-five years at the present rate of travel. It should be borne in mind that the life of any pavement, not sub¬ ject to natural decay, is measured by the tons of travel passing over it, and not by the number of years it has been in use. The statement that a brick pavement has been in use for a given number of years on a back street in a small town, is, therefore, no evidence of the practi¬ cal durability of the pavement. Particularly is this true if, as usual, the pavement has been constantly covered with a coating of dirt, shielding the brick from wear. One of the most serious difficulties encountered in constructing brick pavements, and one that it seems impossible to overcome, is the lack 8 of uniformity in the quality of the brick themselves. Differences in the quality and degree of tempering of the clay used, and more par¬ ticularly the different degrees of hardness to which they are burned, make it well nigh impossible to produce bricks of sufficiently uniform quality to cause them to wear equally well. If they are underburnt they are too soft, and if overburnt they are often too brittle. The result is that, even with the greatest care and most rigid inspection, some inferior bricks will get into the pavement. When one such becomes crushed or disintegrated, it allows its neighbors to become loosened and to topple over, and the breaks thus begun enlarge rapidly until the whole pavement is destroyed. Third—YY IS SCARCELY NECESSARY TO STATE THAT IN ALL OTHER RESPECTS, THE BEST BRICK PAVEMENTS ARE ACKNOWL¬ EDGED TO BE INFERIOR TO STANDARD TRINI¬ DAD ASPHALT SHEET PAVEMENTS. The asphalt pavement is best from a sanitary point of view, because it is water tight and has no cracks and interstices to collect and hoM filth and to give out noxious gases or odors. It is much more easily kept clean for the same reasons. It is much less noisy under travel, a quality which people are beginning to appreciate at its true value. It requires less power to draw a load over the asphalt than over the brick, and the former is far less destructive to vehicles than the latter. It is claimed that under certain conditions the asphalt pavements afford a less secure foothold to horses than the brick pavements, but if this is true at all, it applies only when the pavements are covered with ice or with a coating of slimy mud. That the Trinidad Asphalt pave¬ ment is not objectionable in this way is proven by the fact that in the cities where it is used to the largest extent this objection is seldom, if ever, urged against it. Ill view of all these facts, the statements in favor of brick pavements are not well founded, and prudence would seem to dictate that as between such pavements and those of light standard Triuidad Asphalt, which costs about the same per square yard, and is superior to the brick in every respect, the asphalt should have the preference. WARREN-SCHARF ASPHALT PAVING CO., 81 Fulton Street, New York, 23 Blymyer Building, Cincinnati, Ohio. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 3 0112 124393452 i'4