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Times Bureau, Sir Walter Hotel. (By J. C. BASKERVILL) Raleigh, July 30.—Officials of the State Highway and Public works Commission are watching with great interest the prepara tions being made for the celebra tion to be held Tuesday, August 3, of the completion of the “cot ton road” between Faison and Clinton and in which both Golds boro and Mount Olive will par ticipate. For not only will this celebration focus attention all over the state upon new and bet ter engineering practices being employed by the highway depart ment and tend to be the state more conscious of 4 highways, but it may also lead to the pop ularization of a new type of high way that will eventually help the farmers, it was pointed out. “We are glad to see the people of Wayne, Duplin and Sampson counties hold this celebration calling attention to the new ‘cot ton road’ between Faison and Clinton, because it means they are taking a greater interest in the state highway system and the type of highways we are now building and planning to build,” Chairman Frank L. Dunntap said today, “It also is calling atten tion all over the country to the efforts of the North Carolina Highway Commission to keep ahead of the rest of the country in developing new and better types of highways. If these ‘cot ton roads’ are successful, of course, they will be the means of developing an a tremendous new market for cotton and thus help the cotton farmers. So we regard this celebration next week as be ing very significant.” This particular stretch of “cot ton road” between Baison and Clinton is approximately 14% miles long and was built as an experimental project by the state highway commission and the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads, it was pointed out today by W. Vance Baise, chief highway engineer. Cotton fabric is not used through out the entire length of the road, since some sections were purpose ly built without any fabric so that the highway engineers may compare these with the sections on which the fabric was used, to see which sections stand up bet ter. So while 101,850 square yards of cotton fabric were used in the constriction of the road as a binder between the sand clay base and the surface treat ment of bituminous surfacing and crushed stone, some 70,755 square yards of the roadway were paved without the use of any of the cotton fabric, Baise pointed out. In addition to the cotton fabric used, some 215,000 gallons of bituminous surfacing and 5, 700 tons of crushed stone was used in the construction of the road, while approximately 45,000 cubic yards of sand and clay were used in the base. While this particular “cotton road” has not been constructed long enough to be of much value from an experimental standpoint, it is holding up well under the heavy traffic that is going over it every day, according to T. W. Falinstock, bituminous engineer for the highway commission and under whose supervision all bitu minous and “cotton roads” have been and are being constructed. None of these roads have been down for more than a year in North Carolina, with the result that it i still too early to com pare the manner in which they are standing up under traffic with the bituminous surfaced roads built without the cotton binder. But in other states where the cotton fabric binder has been used, particularly in South Car olina, the “cotton roads’ have stood up better and lasted longer than those built without the cot ton fabric, Fahnstock said. For not only does the cotton binder tend to hold the sand-clay base together better and prevent water from seeping into it, but it gives greater elasticity to the surface and tends to keep it from crack ing and breaking. “Our observations have been that the cotton fabric in a high way acts very much like the cord fabric in an automobile tire, in that it permits the surface to five and stretch without break ing.” Faanstock said, The “cotton road” celebration in which Gov. Clyde R. Hoey will participate and be the principal speaker at Clinton, will start with a motorcade from Goldsboro to leave there at 9:20 Tuesday morning following a program that will start at 8:30. The motor cade will arrive in Mount Olive at 10 o'clock and stay until 10:45, then proceed on to Faison, where it is scheduled to arrive at 10:55 and remain until 11:55 during which time a program of speak ing and a watermelon feast will be enjoyed. The motorcade is scheduled to arrive in Clinton at 12:15, where Governor Hoey will speak and a barbecue dinner serv ed afterwards.
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Wilson Times
Wilson, North Carolina, US
Tue, Aug 03, 1937
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