The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-04
Grand total ...................s9 .s9i
Summary of Report.

VI FSPS'e
 From the above tabulated statement you will see there were g steel bridges constructed. including embanIment and concrete sub-structure in 1906, at a cost of S52,7n. 79: II in 1907 at a cost of S25,- 534. 20 and Il repaired in 1907 at a cost of S16327 40. making a total expended on steel bridges and work in connection herewith in 1907 of $52, 70 and 1907, S31 s61 .60 or a grand total expended on new bridges and repair in 1906 and 1907 of s94,573.39 All this work was done according to plans and specifications pre- pared by me and submitted to your hon. orable board upon which bids were ad- Vertised for and the contract let to the lowest bidder, contracts and surety bonds prepared by the county attorney, Hon. John H. Miller and executed are on file in your office for all this work. All these bridges are 16-foot roadway. 100 pounds per square foot capacity. with factor of safety of four and five, making them up-to-date modern steel structures. The repair work mentioned represents the replacing of the wood approaches, wood floor iosts and wood hand rail with steel approaches steel floor joists and steel hand rail on the largest bridges in the county. Three of them you will see from the statement are the three large bridges over the Warrior river and two over the Cahaba river, all of which were built several years ago. I would advise that you continue this re- pair work as fast as steel bridge with wood in it needs repair, repairing same with steel, and you will soon have all steel bridges, as the bridges built sev- eral years ago are the only ones with any wood in them, all new bridges hav- ing no wood in them except the floor 1 also constructed two four-foot concrete arch culVerts in 1907, which replaced old wooden bridges at a saving to the coun- ty over steel bridges of something like S200, and 1t Is useless to say that they are much better and are more perma~ nent than steel Right along this line most respectfully advise and recommend that your honorable board consider the use of reinforce concrete in all bridges and waterways, it being the only prac- tical material for permanent bridges. The life of a steel bridge over some of the streams in great many locations in this county is only about 20 or 25 years, while reinforced concrete, while costing more, would not be impaired in the least, con crete being like the proveroial butter, 'the older it gets the stronger it gets" and there is no necessity for painting or repairs on a concrete bridge. The re- placing of hundreds of small wooden bridges from six to 30 feet in this county with concrete culvert as fast as they
 
 annual expense of repairing and rebuild ing these wooden structures, and at the same time you will have a permanent structure to say nothing of the increased safety to the travelling public, and if you will pardon me will say, the day of wooden bridges is obsolete in a county like Jefferson.
 Wants Bridges Numbered.
 l also recommend that every steel bridge in the county be numbered, com menclng with the first bridge built and numbered on up numerically, with white numbers on right hand side of each end of the bridge of such size as may be easily seen you would drive by, and a list showing the number of bridge, location. what stream, and road it is on, posted in your office. This can be done with white paint as all bridges are paint ed dark and can be done at very small cost, and any time any bridge is reported any one in your office can refer to the list and know just where and what road said bridge is on. In the designing, con structing and carrying out the every de- tail of the plans of this work, I have ever been aware of the trust imposed upon me by your honorable board and the responsibility that rested upon me for the faithful performance of my duty, and have endeavored with all my engi- neering ability to have all work come up to the highest standard, realizing that each structure would be a monument to myself, whether for good or bad, and the travelling public shall be the judge whose decision I most respectfully &C., cept Respectfully submitted
 P. S. MILNER,
 County Engineer