BUILDING ROADS FOR AUSTRALIA'S MOTORS.
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The Part Played by Motor Vehicles in Connection with Road Construction and Maintenance, with Particular Refertnce to the Highways of Victoria.
T"Commonwealth of Australia is seriously considering the question of good roads, and endorsement for this fact can be found in the large sums that are periodically allotted to the various states. A further £1,000,000 was• recently granted for this purpose, of which sum New South Wales received 1276,000, "West Australia £192,000, Queensland £188,000, Victoria £180,000, South Australia £114,000, and Tasmania 150,000.
Victoria is a long way ahead of the other states of the Australian Common' wealth so far, as its road system is concerned. No doubt this is, to a large extent, due to the fact that this state is the smallest on the mainland of Australia. Consequently, the .Government authorities are not so likely to be appalled by the long distances over which roads must be built if the state is to be opened up. That much work has been done in building roads in Victoria is proved by the fact that in 1322 the statefl possessed 6,500 miles of main roads and 2,946 miles of secondary roads, exclusive of the shire council roads. The road running from Portland, in the west,. through Melbourne eastwards to the border of New South. Wales, leas been named the Prinee's Highway in honour of the Prince of Wales's visit to Victoria in 1920.
The eventual aim of the authorities is to connect all the capital cities of the Commonwealth by a great coastal road. It remains to be seen whether such a scheme is practicable in the arid . areas bordering the Great Australian Bight and other points around the coast of Australia, but it is certain that a definite lead will be given in this respect by the authorities of Victoria. The length of. such a highway coming within the borders of the State would be almost 600 miles when its whole length from west to cast is traversed.
Considerable difficulty has been experienced in maintaining communications between Victoria . and New South Wales owing to the fact that the Murray River constitutes the greater part of the frontier between the states. To remove this handicap the engineers of the two governments hare recommended that four new bridges be constructed over the river at Abbotsford, Mildura, Euston, and Gonn Crossing.'
The use of motor vehicles is extending so rapidly in Victoria that Melbourne, despite its wide streets, is said to be faced with a traffic problem. Many people are of the opinion, however, that this difficulty would disappear if the tramlines were taken up and the tramcars replaced by buses.
The work carried out by the Country Roads Board of Victoria during the few years it has been established has led to many road improvemente being made, and the Board is continually widening the scope of its operations by the periodical purchase of motor lorries for use on work associated with highway construction and maintenance. The majority of the vehicles in its service are A.E.C. 5-tonners fitted with an unusual type of sidetipping body, the design for which was conceived in the drawing office of the Board. It has taken some time for authorities in Australia to appreciate the dependence of the country's development upon the adequate provision of road coin
minfieation facilities, and the state of Victoria was the first to acknowledge the necessity for good roads. The oldfashioned methods of road building are fast disappearing, and new methods, in which modern plant and up-to-date transport play their part, are to be seen in regular use in most of the shires from Millewa to Oroajingolong.
The method of transporting road materials by horsed vehicles is still in existence in some shires, but highway construction along such lines necessitates the employment of large numbers of men, largely due to the fact that the capacity of a horse-drawn cart is only about 1 yard of road metal and that each cart must be in charge of one man whilst it is proceeding to and from the scene of operations. Other carts are used for hauling the unbroken rock up improvised ramps so that it may be tipped out on a level with the crusher, and for this operation two more men are required to discharge the material into the jaws of the machine. Still more labour is needed to fill the carts as the stone arrives from the screening plant.
A great difference is to be observed in those shires where more up-te-date methods are resorted to_ In these districts overhead bins are filled automatically from the crushing and screening plant, and, when the lorry arrives on the scene for a load, all that the driver, has to do is to pull a lever and the tipping body is filled automatically. The lorry then =eves off to the unloading point to dump its load, these unloading points being, on an average, eight miles distant from the crusher. The loading of each five tons of material takes about one minute.
A close study of these operations and a comparison with those when horsed vehicles are used, shows it to be futile either to make or maintain good roads with horse transport, especially when long distances have to be covered in uninhabited areas. The shire councils have not been slow in realizing this point, and, as a consequence, lorries are being increasingly used in outlying parts of Victoria, much to the satisfaction of the local governing bodies as well as to the settlers in these districts. The road from Melbourne to Geelong has been cited as an example of how a road Should be maintained.
The feeling is growing among Victorians that the main roads of the state should be entirely under the control of the Country Roads Board, particularly those highways which might be described as trunk roads. The chief of these are Mel
bourne-Geelong; Melbourne-Ballarat ; Melbourne-Bendigo ; Melbourne-Sale, and thence to a part of the New South Wales border ; and Geelong-Portland, towards the South Australian border. When these roads are brought up to a higher standard of construction and maintained in a first-class condition, it is certain that the question of closer settlement in the state will be, to a large extent, solved.
The inhabitants of Victoria in general, and the motor carriers in particular, fully appreciate the efforts of the Board on their behalf, and Victorians are well aware that it is one of the best-organized and most-appreciated of Government undertakings. As a proof of the popularity of this body, it is only necessary to state that, when it recommended that the wheel tax should be instituted for raising funds for the construction and upkeep of roads, not a single dissenting voice was raised throughout Victoria. Not all the credit for the creation of good roads, however, must be given to the Country Roads Board. There are many local bodies Which are doing the utmost with the limited funds at their disposal to improve the roads in their districts. There is no scarcity of road metal in Victoria. Cement factories are established at Fyansford and Geelong,, whilst limestone is quarried in several parts of the state. A number of concrete roads has been made of late years, particularly
in the neighbourhood of Melbourne. That roads of this type will be increasingly constructed is highly probable, especially as a factory for the manufacture of expanding metal for reinforcing concrete roads was recently established at Melbourne.
The question of roads in Australia is all the more acute in so far as it is, at the present time, the largest motor-importing country in the world. The wear and tear on existing roads, therefore, is very considerable, and the problem is not lessened by the local belief that the time is. fast coming when speedier and heavier motor vehicles will be still more numerous. The Country Roads Board of Victoria is doing its best to grapple with the situation. This department aims at abolishing acute bends and heavy gradients, and in
building special roads in order to• skirt towns and, congested areas. It believes that roads must come first, and that railways will follow in due course. Until then, it claims that "roads' and more roads, and better roads," must be the incessant and continuous call of the state.
Mildura, on the Murray, is the most remote Victorian town of any size from Melbourne. it is fortunate, however, in possessing a very live council to control its affairs—a council which believes in doing things by up-to-date methods. in 1922 it purchased a 5-ton side-tipping A.E.C. lorry, and this vehicle has been continuously employed in hauling road metal from a site some miles out of the town. This vehicle is continuing to perform excellent work, and, as a consequence, the development of road communications in the neighbourhood of Mildura is going forward at a remarkable pace. The unbroken chain of good roads in Victoria is, to a large extent, affected adversely owing to the decentralization of control. As a rule, the main roads through the shires are fairly good, but in the neighbourhood of the boundaries short stretches, sometimes .3 miles in length, are mostly in a state of disrepair. This is mainly because boundaries between shires are more or less ill-defined, and the responsibility for maintaining these 8ections is not accepted by either one shire or the other.
One of the first shires in Victoria to realize the importance of motor lorries in road-making was the shire of Lowan. The local authorities went seriously into this question, and rightly came to the conclusion that the motor vehicle was destined to play a big part in the future road-making of the state. They accordingly set themselves the task of acquiring modern equipment. All old-fashioned methods of loading were at once discarded and the most up-to-date appliances installed for the purpose, so that costly delays could be overcame and most of the operations expeditiously performed by mechanical power. The Iowan authorities use two A.E.C,
5-ton lorries, each of which is fitted with a body having a capacity of 44 yards. One vehicle is arranged for end tipping, and the other has a body which discharges its load at the sides. To effect quick loading of these vehicles, elevators are used, and by their use it has 'been found that only two men are needed to keep the two lorries in full employment, whereas when loading is carried out by hand, sufficient work is available to keep six men fully occupied. When the elevator is used, the engine operating it consumes about a gallon of fuel per day.
Mr. H. E. Morton, the city engineer of Melbourne, was one of the pioneers in the introduction of motor lorries for road construction work in Victoria. A year or two ago Mr. Morton undertook a world tour with a view to Securing information relating to road construction methods, and he became convinced that motor vehicles should replace horse-drawn carts for this work.
Upon his return he placed a contract with the Motor Carriers Co. for the transporting of road metal, and the original fleet engaged on the work consisted of five 5-ton A.E.C. lorries. These vehicles were able to replace 22 horse wagons, together with 66 horses and their attendant drivers' farriers, harness-makers, and grooms. Each of these lorries carries 4f yards of metal or scree‘ings, and as many as 16 trips have been made by a lorry in a single day. The average number of trips daily throughout the year is 9, and the average length of a trip is 3 miles.
Overhead hoppers provide the loading facilities at the quarries, and each lorry can be loaded in less than one minute. The vehicles are fitted with inverted Vtype bodies similar to that shown in one of the illustrations, and they discharge their loads at the sides.
The reason why, end tipper's are not used for dumping loads Is-that road'gangs
are inclined to use the vehicles for spreading the metal, thus saving themselves a certain amount of labour. It is considered most desirable that all road metal should be turned over after being dumped, for this method of handling ensures a better and more even surface. The introduction of side tippers has rendered this operation essential.
These five vehicles transport enough material to enable 200 yards of road to be treated daily, whilst the work can be performed much More quickly and efficiently than was previously the case when horse-drawn carts only were used. They' have attracted a great deal of attention throughout the Commonwealth.
The possibilities of the modern motor vehicle for speeding-up road construction in Australia should result in an increasing demand for the heavy type of lorry, in the construction of which it is generally admitted that British manufacturers excel.