Pavement

Pavement, covering of wood, brick, asphalt, or stone, used for street or roadway to ensure smooth and hard surface for travel. The streets of Babylon are spoken of as paved in 2000 B.C. Pavements are said to have been used in the Roman cities, Rome, Pompeii, and Herculaneum. All the modern cities of any size use pavements on at least the important streets and throughfares. The first consideration for a durable pavement is the construction of a good foundation. Sand or gravel, three to six inches thick, is used; also concrete in varying depth of six to twelve inches.

As to material, wood is the cheapest, but it is not durable even when precautions, such as creosoting, are taken to avoid decay. Stone pavements are laid in the business streets of the large cities, and where traffic is heaviest rectangular granite blocks are used, despite the fact that this is one of the most expensive pavements in general use. Brick has been resorted to extensively in the western United States since 1880. The most durable bricks are those which are of uniform hardness, low porosity, hard burned and not vitrified, though presenting a glassy appearance. The asphalt pitch of Venezuela, also that found on the island of Trinidad, is used extensively for residence streets. Asphalt pavement is durable for light traffic, is more expensive than is wood or brick, but is easily maintained, repaired, and cleaned. It is noiseless, and has the advantage of growing more compact with use, instead of wearing away.

Rev 2000-02-18