The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-01-07
WHAT PAYING COST
Work Done in 1907 Proved to Be
Rather Expensive.
sUBLETTE SAYS HE DID HIS BEST
He Insists That the Work Was
Done as Cheaply as
POssible.

City Engineer Sublette has completed
his figures of the cost of paving in Min
neapolis last year and is now ready to
face his critics. Much has ben said by
aldermen hostile to the city engineers
administration against his management of
paving affairs in 1901. The charge has
been made that the cost Of paving has
been unnecessarily large, and on this &C
| count some have even favored changing
city engineers in the middle Of the term.
The facts show that save In the case OF
the sandstone pavement on University
avenue and the one block stretch Of as
phalt on Sixth street N the paving this
year has cost considerably more than paw
ing of the same type did last year. But
this was unavoidable, the city engineer
declares, on account of the unfavorable
conditions under which the work In
each case had to be done. Conditions as
to weather, cost of material and scarcity
OF labor were all distinctly in favor of the
former year, he contends, and the topo-
graphical conditions also were SO differ
ent as to make comparisons of no pract1-
cal value.
| In the case of the University avenue
paving, the cost was practically the same
$1.92 per square yard in 1900 and $1.93 last
year. The Sixth street asphalt paving was
| laid last year for II cents per square yard
| less than the Tenth street pavement the
previous year-s2.46 against $257. And
! the difference would have been even great
err, Mr.. Sublette explains, but for the TACT
| that the concrete foundation on S1xth
street was laid on brick pavement, and
in order to bring the pavement up to the
| proper grade it was necessary to use lz2
inches more Of binder than otherwise
would have been the case. Material and
work were both cheaper here than on
Tenth street, the year before
| Brick paving shows a marked increase
over the figures Of 1900. The two blocks
on Sixth street N, between First and
Third avenues, cost $1.93 per square
yard, against $1.76 for the South Third
J street pavement put down in 1900, and
! the two blocks at the Washington avenue
N bridge S1.9S per square yard, against
$l.79 for the long stretch between Fifth
! and Fourteenth avenues on the same
thoroughfare, laid in 1900. The increase
! in cost applied to every detail OF the
| work. 81
Comparisons are impossible, the city
| engineer contends, by reason OF the
greatly dissimilar local conditions. In
the cases of both the pieces of brick
pavement laid this year, the department
| had to work under great disadvantages.
There was tremendous traffic on Wash
ington avenue, with no possible way for
it 70 avoid the street during the prog
ress Of operations. Business had to be
accommodated, and much unnecessary
work was entailed thereby and opera
tions greatly delayed In the case OF
Sixth street, more work than usual was
required in preparing the foundation.
| Then. finally, tar filler was used in
stead of the cheaper cement of the year
before. II
The cost Of laying the sandstone pave
! ment on North Washington avenue, be-
tween Twentieth and Twenty second ave-
nues, was $2.O2 per yard, and for the
next two blocks, $1.96. The difference is
! explained by the fact that in one case
! tar filler wss used and in the other
! sand The Marshall street macadam
! cost 80 cents per yard and that on North
Washington avenue, 70 cents In the one
case the CITY bought the crushed rock, in
! the other il was taken from the work
! house qual res. The cost of the latter
could have been materially decreased If
the city engineer had possessed a modern
| stone crushing plant. The city'S equip
ment along this line is almost archaic.
City Engineer Sublette declares that he
has no apologies to make for the paving
results last year. Operations were beset
by many difficulties, he says, excessively
| rainy weather at the most critical time
Of the year, scarcity of labor of all kinds,
difficulty in getting or keeping expert
| labor. hot weather, the natural Difficult
ties Of the situation in nearly every case
az regards traffic or other local condi-
tons, and high prices of material Sand,
for instance, that has hitherto been plenty
at IS cents a yard, cost As cents the past
year. He declares the work was done
! just as cheaply as it could have been
done under the prevailing conditions.