The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-04-22


our paved streets, especially the asphalt
! ed streets, and when signs of faulty con-
| struction or unusual wear appears, to re-
pair them Immediately, but with the as
phalt paving repairs considerable trouble
has been experienced In securing prompt
| attention to the work. Very often the
companies did not comply for several
weeks, or months, and the conditions of
| the streets grew correspondngly worse.
| They suited their own convenience and
| the city had to wait and the public suffer
| inconvenience. To overcome, or meet,
this unsatisfactory state of affairs it
| would be we'll worth considering the idea
| suggested by Mr.. Chittenden some time
ago. whereby the city should secure an
| asphalt plant. Asphalt can be bought in
open market at fair prices without trou-
Die, and good new pavement can, and
| should, be laid in this city for about 81. 90
per square yard, and resurfaclng for
about 80 cents to s1.OO per square yard.
paying ) to Z per cent. on an invested
| capital in plant and tools of 10000 to S22, =
600. The city would certainly then be
able to promptly make all necessary re-
| pairs without unnecessary and vexatious
| delays.
general specification requiring pave
| ment to be left, at the end of the guar
antee period, in n condition satisfactory
| to any one official is liable to cause dis
to all parties concerned, the requirements
| to be fulfilled should be made as definite
| and as precise as possible. Hence the fol-
| lowing sections defining the condition in
| which an asphalt pavement shall be at
| the end of the guarantee period will DO
| inserted in the specifications. hereafter:
| Section THE pavement shall not be re-
! duccd more than one-fourth 90 inCn
| from the original thickness at the end Of
| the first five years, nor moro than one
| half G2D inch from the original thickness
at the end of the first ten years.
| Sec. 2-Places which show a disintcgra>
| tion of the material shall he removed to
the binder or concrete foundation, as
| found necessary, and replaced with new
material having the same thickness and
! conforming to the adjacent pavement.
Sec. S--All elevations or depressOns
| thrce-eights (3s) of an inch or more, above
! or below the general surface of the street
shall be brought to the same elevation as
the general surface, these elevations and
deprCssions to he determined by measur-
ing from a straight edge four ca feet IN
length placed on the surface Of the pave
ment parallel to the line of curbnE. In
| making such repairs the process known
as "skiming' may be employed.
EXPENSIVE WORK.
Sec. i--Where elevations or depressions
| foundation from any cause, the asphalt
! and concrete shall both be removed a
! length and width to include the entire de-
| feet. If the failure is due to buckling IF
! the concrete, the new foundation shall
! consist of broken stCne thoroughly COM
pacted, and of the same thickness as the
| original concrete. In all other cases a
new foundation Of concrete shall be
placed of the same quality and thickness
| as the original construction Upon the
! foundation shall be placed the pavement
| of the same thickness as the adjacent
! surfaces.
Sec. 5-Cracks which show any indica-
tions Of dsntegration, or which are
! threo-eights % of an inch or more in
| width, shall be cut out of the binder or
| concrete foundation as found necessary
| a length and width sufficient to include
! the entire portion affected, this portion
| to be replaced with new material of the
! same quality and thickness, as shown in
the pavement adjacent thereto.
Sec. 6-Should it be found necessary to
| replace forty (4Ocs) per cent. or more of
any section of the street with new ma
| terial, the entire section shall be rcsur-
! faced.
| AS ii Is n well known fact that oil has
a very bad effect on asphalt pavement,
! beg TO repeat a former suggestion that
| all oil wagons be required to have a drip
pan. or some other means, to prevent the
| oil from dropping on the pavement, thus
! running the surface.
| l would also recommend that councils
| take same action in regard to the width
| of tires TO be used on all vehicles The
| great majority of tires are too narrow
and the width of the surface covered by
| these narrow tires is not sufficient to bear
| the heavy loads imposed upon it, thus the
| knife-like tire cuts into it. The proper
|
| any vehicle for given width of tire, is a
| questions that has been wholly disra-
| gardcd in the past, ard as the property
| owners have paid a large amount of
money for pavements the time is ripe
when some action should be taken in the
| matter.
During the year plans and specifica
| tions have been prepared for sewers COW
erinS the whole Of Section "B" Section
| &C, Section 3D." part of Section "E."
| all in the Fifth Sewer district the Six
! teenth Sewer district and the Nineteenth
Sewer district, also on Broadway and EN-
met street in the Sixth and Eighteenth
wards The above sewers cover a vast
| territory and required a great amount of
| time and labor
All plans and estimates prepared this
year provide for the construction of the
| house connections to the curb line on
| streets and avenues to the fence line on
| courts and places.
INSPECTORS OF PUBLIC WORK
Under this head you will notice. in ,ba
| table below Of the total cost of work cost
or inspection and the percentage of the
total cost paid for inspection of the differ
eht improvements constructed during the
| year. The percentage for inspection.
SHOWN in the table Is entirely too high for
the total cost OF work, two to three per
cent, think, should be the limit. White
the expense does lot come out of the gen-
eral tax, still it comes out of the poctc.s
or the property owners along the line of
! Improvement. The reason for some of
this high percentage is The fact that CON
tracts are given the lowest bidder re-
gardless Of his knowledge or ability 10
perform the work he is bidding for. This
oiten causes delays in the execution of
the same. Another reason is that the in
spectors insist on fun time whether ac-
tually employed or not.
l have insisted that all inspectors
| should appeac before the controller ana
swear TO the correctness of their time
or bills, before l approve OF the same VET
II Is impossible to keep the percentage
down to legitimate figures. Some other
or better, way of appointing inspectors
than the present one should be adoDtad
whereby men that possess some practical
knowledge regarding the work thew are
to oversee would be selected or amount
ed. Many of the inspectors with wbor,
l was connected in the past were totally
UNIT for the positions. 1t Is therefore
unfair to hold the engineer responsible
Tor work done under such inspectors. al
though many of our citizens are inclined
to do so. No person would, in conduct
ing his own private business, follow the