The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1893-07-07
A BUSY Department.
Great Improvements Now Being Made
In the City.
STREETS AND SEWERS BUILDING.
Over Fifteen Hundred Mon Mt work for
the Taxpayers In Making the City
Useful, Beautiful and Heaithfui-New
Sewer system to be Done In Two Years.

Over in the city hall, in the southeast
corner on the first floor are three rooms.
devoted to the department. OF public
works The rooms are not large, two OF
them are marked private" and there
are only few men visible. but about this
time of year that department. Is about as
full of work as it il possible for any set
of men to be.
Every sewer notice. every curbing no.
tice, every street notice to contractors,
aud every notice OF paving, means work
for the department Of public works.
Every extension or the water service. every
house pipe laid. and every street cleaning
ment. Bills by the hundreds, and orders
of equal number are addei daily TO the
books that you sec lying open on the
desks as you enter the main room. Every
morning a report is made to Commis-
sioneT Smith OF the men at work and
T9sss they given are to w0rtos shoss S ~Sa
have completed the orders on hand.
4 his mer raiAg, when the reports came III,
twenty gangs of men were found to have
worked yesterday in various portions OF
the city, in curbing, paving. repairing,
setting pipes or oue OF the d zen other
jobs that constitute part OF the public
works; there were gangs OF men on Steepie,
Weyb ybosset. Cornell. Whipple streets,
Elmwood avenue, Randall street, Butler
avenue, Douglas street, two parts OF
Dexter street, Union street and Gano
street. Ia these gangs there ~ers 1853
men and each aud every one OF them car
ried on the city's pay roll.
The workmen on Weybosset and West
mi ster street have quite "A ask ahead OF
then. These streets as far as not already
pa sed with block paving sst in cement
and concrete will DE SO paved. Beginning
at the crosswalk that runs from Dyer
as far rs Excnange street aud Turks
Head crossing, aud from that point up
Weybossett street TO DorraEce that is the
section now to be permanently repaved
aud in which the Union railrord COM
pany will lay it's rails for electric system
and the Telephone company will lay it's
conduits. Ibis one piece OF work will re-
quire a month or six weeks during which
lime traffic will be delayed considerably
in the center of the city.
Then there's the sewers. Under the
streets In every direction they extend in
a Ierfect network OF pipes. The great
and costly system OF improved sewerage
that the city Is now constructing will
probably be completed within two year,.
che Elmwood division is nearly
com plete now. Contractor Shaw has a
smaii s. ction OF IL now under construc-
tIOn tndt exteDuS from MaSDp pduR pond
up to and a,ong the harDor branch or
the New York, New Haven and Hartford
railrnad. thence L-Lp-BspedieB- pond
aud down to Fields Point. This sewer
will drain the southwestern section OF
the eighth ward The other sections of
thai portion OF the city are already pro.
vided for by the largest main sewer in
the city, 0 IT, 2 in. in diameter, from
which extend three laterals.
The sewer now building in Dorrance
| street, rs seventy inches in diameter 1t
will be extended southerly down Dyer
and Eddy streets to Fields Point, anu In
the other direction through Dorrance,
New Gaspee street To the WoonasQua-
tucket river Work is now being done
on that portion Of 1t wnicn is to DO built
under the bed OF the river at its Lew
Gaspee street crossing. The sewer
mas already been completed up he
valley Of the Woonasq u atucket to O.ney-
willie The work now under way will
complete the main sewerage system for
the west side of the river. In the de-
partnent of sewers there are about 751
men at work They are under the pay of
the contractors, but the city eventually
pays them all.
The men in these three rooms in the
city hall are fairly bnsy with the records
of the 1850 men, directly responsible 10
tue c Commissioner.