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Workmen using new hot-bitumen paving process on city street20 August 1934

by Sam Hood
Until the turn of the twentieth century, major city streets were laid with wood blocks covered in tar. The development of bitumen roads closely followed the spread of pneumatic tyred automobiles. During the 1920s, the City Council began to experiment with asphalt, constructing an asphalt plant in 1929. Here workers use a new hot bitumen machine to repair a damaged road surface.