| Miles. | |
| Granite paved streets | 400 |
| Macadamized ditto (or roads) | 1350 |
| Wood ditto | 5 |
| Total | 1755 |
This may appear a disproportionate estimate, but when it is remembered that the inner police district of the metropolis extends as far as Hampstead, Tooting, Brentford, and Greenwich, it will be readily perceived that the relative proportions of the macadamized and paved roads are much about the same as is here stated.
As to the cost of these several roads, I will, before entering upon that part of the subject, state the prices of the different materials used in their manufacture.
Aberdeen granite is now 1l. 5s. per ton, delivered, and prepared for paving, or, as it is often called, “pitching.” A ton of “seven inch” granite, that is, granite sunk seven inches in the ground, will cover from two and three-quarters to three square yards, superficial measure, or nine feet per yard. The cost, labour included, is, therefore, from 9s. to 12s. the square yard. This appears very costly; but in some of the more quiet streets, such as those in the immediate neighbourhood of Golden and Fitzroy-squares, a good granite pavement will endure for 20 years, requiring little repair. In other streets, such as Cheapside, for instance, it lasts from three to four years, without repavement being necessary, supposing the best construction has been originally adopted.
For macadamized streets, where there is a traffic like that of Tottenham Court-road, three layers of small broken granite a year are necessary; the cost of this repavement being about 2s. 6d. a yard superficial measure. The repairs and relayings on macadamized roads of regular traffic range from 4s. to 6s. 6d. yearly, the square yard.
The wood pavement, which endures, with a trifling outlay for repairs, for about three years, costs, on an average, 11s. the square yard.
The concrete used as a foundation in this street-construction costs 4s. 6d. a cube yard, or 27 feet, by which admeasurement it is always calculated. A cube yard of Thames ballast weighs about 1¼ ton.
The average cost of street-building, new, taking an average breadth, or about ten yards, from footpath to footpath, is then—
| Per Mile. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| £. | s. | d. | |
| Granite built | 96 | 0 | 0 |
| Macadamized | 44 | 0 | 0 |
| Wood | 88 | 0 | 0 |
Or, as a total,