The average amount of repaving and repairs for the past five years has been as follows:

In gen

New pavements and important repairs are carried out by contract. eral, there are no prescribed tests for materials, but in case of any doubt the materials in question are submitted for tests to the National Testing Laboratory at Malines. The stone pavements have a minimum life of from fifteen to twenty years, depending on the intensity of traffic. All the pipes for water, gas and sewer are laid under the roadway. Conduits for electric wires are placed beneath the sidewalks, and here, as in the other cities of Belgium and sometimes in France and Germany, use is made of tall latticed towers for distributing overhead wires from the conduits on local service to a large number of buildings. There is a narrow-gauge overhead trolley tramway, frequently with a single track, operating throughout the city, which has responsibility for the maintenance of pavements between its rails. All street construction is under the supervision of a chief engineer, who is the director of works of the city of Ghent. A general inspector of highways has charge of ordinary maintenance work, having under him a foreman and twelve divisions of pavers. New construction is let by contract for three-year periods; the service of street cleaning and supervision over gas, water and electricity is under other heads. The traffic on all of the streets is moderate and for the type of pavement employed they present usually a good appear.

ance.

CHAPTER VI

HOLLAND

On account of its extensive canal system, the streets of the cities in Holland have perhaps a lighter traffic than those of any of equal size in Europe. A few notes of interest were made.

ROTTERDAM

This is an important seaport and manufacturing town with a population of 418,000 and in convenient rail and canal communication with the other cities of Holland and Belgium. It lies along one of the mouths of the Rhine, intersected by a system of canals almost as frequent as the streets which border them on either side, with frequent bridges, which, in the part of the city adjacent to the river-front, are provided with lifts for the passage of vessels. The streets are mainly paved with the usual Belgian blocks on sand, the sidewalks being of stone and brick with high curbs. Near the central part of the town there is some hard wood pavement laid on smooth concrete foundations and more was observed under construction, the blocks being laid at an angle of 45 degrees with the axis of the street.

THE HAGUE

This city, the administrative capital of Holland, has practically no street traffic worthy of mention. Many of the streets are entirely occupied by foottraffic. In the central part of the city the streets are narrow, paved with wood, asphalt, brick and stone. Many of the curbs have quite an acute bevel and small gutter inlets at fifty-foot intervals or less.

AMSTERDAM

This city, the largest in Holland, having 566,000 inhabitants, lying near the so the edge of Zuyderzee on the Y-River, one of the channels of the Rhine da, has a generally semicircular plan consisting of alternate streets and canals, tug at either end with the line of docks which forms the northern bounthe city and along which lies the principal freight and passenger railroad As in Amsterdam and elsewhere in Holland, canals occupy the centers of ide streets, and the wheel traffic is comparatively light. The usual pavement is Belgian block on sand with a few of the business streets in the central portion et the city paved with asphalt and having hard wood blocks in the tramways. sidewalks are paved with either small stone or brick, and the curbs, which Larrow with a vertical face, have frequently interlocking ends. There are ae brick roadways and some paved with very small stone blocks. There is also a small amount of dressed stone blocks with close-fitting joints. Storm water inlets are placed in vertical castings set flush with the curb. The canals are largely employed in place of sewers.

Standard gauge tramways with overhead wire and bow current conductors are usual in the cities of Holland, track construction being similar to that observed elsewhere. There is usually no foundation under any of the stone pavements and street surfaces are not in particularly good condition. New building construction is permitted to occupy as much of the sidewalk and street as is required, frequently closing even the roadway. Street repair work is left over night without other protection than an occasional lamp.