The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-12-31
I City Street Paving.

TN A RECENT print Of a report upon the street
= paving problem in Chicago, the statement is
made that at the beginning Of the present century
24O00,00O people living in cities Of 5000 and over
had invested $s60OOO0oo in improving their streets
with curbing, grading sidewalks and paving. This
immense investment is increased every year by
$70,0OO000 in addition to the cost of care and re-
newing. But other class Of engineering works
exceeds this in magnitude, and that is the steam
railroads Of the country Yet there is no science Of
street paving street care Paving is ordinarily
selected by the interested property which pays for
it, is arbitrarily decided upon by such political
bodies as city councils Nearly all cities have a
multiplicity Of kinds Of paving None have what
they consider the final kind. There is no agreed
upon width Of street for different classes Of travel
no general scheme for the identifying Of streets.
Pavements are financial investments, but there is
scarcely any literature from which to compute their
length Of life, operating expense or rate Of depre
citation. A railroad run in this manner would come
to grief That cities do not come to grief is due
to the pouring in constantly of new money in the
form Of taxes
Several facts tend to explain the anomaly. The
one significant is the fact that the administration Of
cities changes every few years. and street engineers
are subject to change with political officials in near
~ all cities. If not removed, they are bound by
the opinions Of the incoming administrations, and
they seldom nave the opportunity the ambition to
master the problems with which they are constantly
called upon to DEAL The specialist in street paving
and matchmaking is recognized abroad. On the con-
tinent he was handed down from the Roman days.
when road-making a part Of the military art
OF the country, and was brought to perfection
which has never been exceeded if it has ever been
equaled. We cannot suppose that the makers of
the Roman roads went out Of office with the consuls
every year. There must have been a. road-making
bureau which was independent Of and outlived many
administrations * <,..r.. ..:.. -
The main difficulty in the way Of scientific
treatment Of the paving question is the Importance
in the problem Of the AUDITING property owner The
taxing power looks to him for the money with
which to build the paving, and it has formed the
habit Of taking his advice as to what kind Of pay
ing he will have A plebiscite is not necessarily an
accurate or fair way of solving perplexing en-
gineering problem. - 81" ~. -
The Taxpayers hunt is usually for the cheapest
kind Of material which will do the work. The city
puts it in for him, and then expends totally in
adequate total for repairs and renewals
The ideally paved city has not been found vet
in America. Nor is the ideal for one city, when
found, at all likely to be the ideal for all cities Of
the same class Differences Of climate, soil, meth
DDS of transportation enter into the question to such
an extent that the paving problem is largely an in
diYidual But there are certain fixed principles
applying to all communities which are almost en-
tirely ignored in the political methods Of deciding
upon paving. ~u4 .ay5a.' r~~3 2.~ i = :