Evening times-Republican., 1909-07-13
CONSIDER REPAIRS IN PAVING.


instead of one twenty four feet wide
on the principal street of that city and
has decided to cut out the new wrinkle
of a parking in the center but is as
yet undecided as to whether it would
be wise to go forward with an order for
a patented pavement at cost of
$17,600 per mile in excess Of what an
equally as good pavement is to be laid
for in Mason City. The change in the
width of the street widens the margin
which Grinnell is asked to pay for a
patented and monopolized pavement
Well may a group of honest and care
full men hesitate before saddling an un-
necessary burden of this kind upon the
property owners whom they are sworn
to represent to the best of their abil-
lty. Not only must they stop to ask
themselves why this excessive cost of
sSS,720 per mile for pavements in Grim
nell which are to be laid in Mason
City for Sell per mile, but they
should stop long enough to inquire as
to the future. What about the cost
of maintenance?
Marshalltown has had a stomach full
of experience with patented pave
nent 1t was asphalt controlled by the
asphalt trust and therefore cost s1.s7
per square yard. There was endless
litigation which finally resulted in set
Elements with all but forty to fifty prop
erty owners by the paving company
giving bonds to extend it's guarantee
on the paving from seven to twelve
years but this did not make the paw
ing wear nor did it make repairs and
today if the Grinnell council would
come to Marshalltown and walk from
the railway station to the Pilgrim hotel
they could see an asphalt pavement full
of holes averaging twenty or more tc
the block, four feet across and nearly
a foot deep. Our mayor has de.
manded that the company repair the
street but the company is non
resident and chooses its own time in
coming. In the meantime we have nc
machines for mixing asphalt. 1t is
a patented, prepared substance and we
can't do our own repairing so we fill
the holes with cinders just to make the
muss worse. If we had laid concrete
we could have saved nearly sl4.0OC
per mile on the first cost and if any
defect had ever appeared our city la
borers with sand and cement could have
been on the job the next morning max
ing the repairs and charging it up tc
the paving company if any unreason-
able delay should occur.
This will be the experience of Grin
nell with bitulithic, which is an as.
phaltum mixture since it is a patented
substance owned by Warren Brother:
who are located in Boston, Mass. anl
it can easily consume all summer ir
getting them to come back to Grinnel
to make repairs before a law suit /:
started on their bond
But Marshalltown has had its ex-
perience with law suits, too. Forty O,
more cases are now pending after fou,
years of asphalt litigation. All of them
were started principally because of the
excessive cost of the high priced paw.
ing. Three have been tried out and an.
pealed and all have gone against the
paving company. In each the litigation
costs exceeded the cost of the paw.
ing in question and the paving com.
pany will now seek to make the cit,
pay for the property owners pavemen
which, il successful Will stick the cit,
for the cost of previous litigation, plu
cost of paving; all because the pat
ented paving was exhorbitant in price
1t exceeded the benefits to property
Well may a city council hesitate an,
even wait until another year befor
inviting upon itself troubles of thi
magnitude.
! Mason City is going 70 lay pave
ment which has been recommended Il
| 1t by the engineering departments o
several cement manufacturers. It ha
| the endorsement of the engineerin,
school at Ames. It is substantial,
! equivalent to concrete pavement
which have proved a pronounced sue
cess in hundreds of our largest cite
east, south and west. Ut will save
corner lot owner in Grinnell $40O OF
the cost of his paving. 1t will cut tn
single lot owner with seventy five fee
frontage on thirty-foot pavemen
from s275 to $3.50. If Mason City lay
it this year and 1t stands up and It i
sure to do SOFAS 1t is. considered b
engineers to be more durable than an
asphalt mixture known, It will then b
time for other cities to pave mai
streets, side streets and alleys with
pavement which actually costs tn
contractors about SO cents per squar
yard to build and can be repaired q
iany time by almost any kind OF labol