The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-06-15
Kansas Avenue Really to Be
Paved at Last.
Parker Washington Company
Gets the Plum.
BID Is MUCH LOWER.
Work VIII Be Done at S1.24
Per Yard.
Much Lower Than the Former
Propositions.

The contract for repaying Kansas
avenue from Crane street to Tenth ave-
nue.. exclusive of the block between
Third and Fourth streets. was awarded
| by the council last night to the Parker
Washington company of Chicago for
s1.24 a square yard for Bermudez
asphalt, the best grade of asphalt on
the market.
The. paving operations will commence
within thirty days and the contract is
to be completed. according to the agree
ment made last night, by october Is.
The bid as let last night resulted in
a saving of approximately $4,000 over
the bids submitted at the previous coun-
! ell meeting. At the first advertisement
of bids the lowest bid for Bermudez was
| $13715 by the leveland-Trinidad Paw
| ing company, while the lowest bid for
resetting the stone blocks between the
car tracks was 171z cents by the KAN
| sas BituIthic company
! It is always customary to let the re-
setting Of the stone blocks to the COM
pany doing the repaying, and as the
company that was low on its first esti-
mate for the resetting was higher on
| the repaving and the company that bid
lower on the repavfng was higher on
| the resetting, the appreciable gain by
readvertising was really more than
| 81. 800.
The bids entered were more imam q
surprise both to the city officials and
the Kansas avenue property owners
committee. There has been a general
understanding that a combination. was
/ on among the paving companies Bids
put in at Kansas City for paving there
seemed to indicate this. However the
bids submitted last night clearly indi-
| cate that combination does not exist
1 All of the bids entered last night were
below those entered last week from two
| to twenty-one cents.
The Parker W ashington company's
| bid for Bermudez was S1.45.
Its certainly q surprise to me The
price is a great deal lower than I ex-
! pected 1T would be-" said James Nc
| Cabe city engineer. Il never thought
that the Parker-W ashington people
| would get a look in. I thought that
they were not bidding in earnest and
simply were dallying with the Cleve-
land Trinidad company. The price IS
| certainly a good one and the city should
be well satisfied
II looked for a lower price on the re-
paving but I wasn't looking for it as
low as 1924, said C. E. Jewell of the
property owners committee. I'VE GER
| tainly haven't any kick coming on the
| way things have turned out. The ex-
] pert to supervise the paving for the city
/ I understand VIII not be sent for until
! the actual work of paving commences.
The specifications of the city engineer
it is all the more gratifying that we
/ got a lower price. What the property
| owners have been afraid of more than
| anything else is that the contract would
be awarded to some of these left hand
ed pavements like the California
asphalt
The fight for the contract it was
confidently expected was between the
Kansas Bitulithic company and the
/ Observation-Disclosures company. The for
mer, however, was the highest bidder
s135 $40 for Acme asphalt with the
1 CIeveland-Tr1nidad bidding s1.35 for
Bermudez asphalt
The contract for the curbing was not
let There is considera BILE curbing
which viii have to be replaced, being
worn out-but the contract for this will
not be let until later along in the
month. There is no special hurry about
this and it was believed that a lower
price could be secured by calling for
separate bids.
How They Bid.
The bids as entered asst night were:
Barber Asphalt company-Buena Wis
ia asphalt. $114, resetting stone 80 cents
square yard; Trinidad asphalt, $1.26
resettfng stone, 80 cents q square yard.
Observation-Disclosures Asphalt company
I-Bermudez asphalt, $135, resetting
stone block, SO cents.
Parker Washington company-Ber-
mudez asphalt. $1.24. resetting stone
blocks, "a cents a square yard.
k'eNA@3
phalt. $1.35 $40. resetting stone blocks,
171z cents a square yard
Compare these bids with the bids first
entered:
Barber Asphalt company, Buena Wis
ia asphalt, $1.1T; resent stone blocks, so
cents.
Barber Asphalt company. Trinidad as
phalt, 81 %; reset stone blocks. 80 cents.
dez asphalt, s1.377z; reset stone blocks,
flag
Kansas Biulithic company-Acme as
phalt. $t.39; reset stone blocks, IVA
Parker washington company-Ber-
mudez asphalt, $1-45; reset stone blocks.
The engineers estimates wereAfor the
repaving. $3.50 and for resetting the
stone blocks, 35 cents.
Hanley & Richie, who talked of put
ting in bid, filed a sealed envelope as
if they were going to bid again on Cali
fornia asphalt but il was not accom-
panied by a certified check and was
thrown out The sales agent Of the
California asphalt refused to let any
contractor bid on California, claiming
that he was getting square deal
Fred Webster, agent for the Kansas
BituIthfc Paving company was the last
to file bid yesterday afternoon and
that led to the rumor that the company
would not bid but would contest the
award Of the contract on the basis that
they were the lowest bidders in the first
instance.
J. H Hamilton, representing the sue
cessful bidders was present last even
ing. He is in charge of the work which
the company is now doing in Kansas
City. Il think we can begin work here
IN Topeka in about 80 days, said Ham
ilton There is a lot of machinery to
be shipped here and material also and
IT takes time to do this and set It up
The contract involves an expenditure
of close to $4,000 and OF this amount
about one-fourth is assessed directly
against the city The yardage to be
repaved Is about So. 600, the stone blocks
necessary to be set represents an addi-
tional yardage of 3, coo.
The mayor was instructed to enter
| into q contract with the Parker-Wash-