Los Angeles herald., 1910-04-30

nessllke manner. which invariably they have
not been able to do to their great loss
The present indications that it is
physical lmpossibility to construct anywhere
near the amount of roads promised the public
by the highway commission. and in its effort
to make 1t appear that IT is really trying
to do something 1t is tearing UP roads in
every direction, and we face condition much
worse than It would be II the commission
made no effort whatever.
The output of the Pacoima plant, from
practical point of view. is unknown. for the
reason that the quarry is only partly de-
veloped.
SAN DIAIAS FAILURE
The San Dimas quarry cannot be counted on
as a rock producer for at least four months
The West Riverside quarry, from which the
176 900 tons noted above have beeen purchased,
has yet to build It's permanent crusher plant
and It will take, under preesnt conditions, at
least 500 days to deliver that amount We
know OF no other rock supplies accepted by
the highway commission.
The Wiltshire boulevard contract which was
let in August, 1909 and not a foot completed
at this date is depending on Brush Canyon
quarry for its supply, and there is something
of an element of doubt TO whether or not
1t will furnish a sufficient quantity This
road presents a sorry appearance, indeed,
| and is a menace to comfort and safety, 1t
being one of the main lines TO the beach,
and present indications are that 1t will be
months before It will be IN a passable con-
dition, the contractors having obtained an
extension OF time to August % and every
indication points TO a further extension. This
| looks like II was on its way. but does not
| know where It is going where to stop.
sPAULDING co. OMITTED
We have not mentioned the spaulding
| quarry, although its development was encour-
| b,, he vvban n
| should have been apparent that this rock was
| absolutely unfit for road building purposes
as the experiment on the FL Monte road has
| proved its unsuitability. We regret TO say
| that notwithstanding its disastrous experience
with the FL Monte road. the highway COM
mission has attempted to make further use
Of the spaulding rock on Long Beach |
| boulevard
| The failure 10 exercise good business sense |
in providing a supply OF rock has, in our |
opinion, resulted in the inability OF contract
ors to complete their contracts within rea- |
sonable time, and has caused higher bids |
for macadam than would have been the case |
had a rock supply been assured as IT should |
have been, and that without the purchase Of |
rock at distant points
For these reasons we emphatically assert !
that the highway commission has been and |
still is unprepared TO economically construct |
the proposed highways.
QDAiAIA
That the work already completed is Of IN |
ferior quality is obvious from casual in |
spection Of the roads by any one. The sur |
face rock used on the El Monte road S. in |
our opinion, in general Of very poor quality, |
soft and friabe and entirely unfit for road |
building The fact that the highway com
mission has found it necessary to patch and |
otherwise repair parts of this road at the |
expense OF the taxpayers, and that before the |
acceptance Of the work from the contractor, |
is in our minds sufficient evidence that the !
road is defective and that the highway COM
mission was aware Of this fact before It |
accepted the work of the contractor.
The work completed Prospect avenue, |
near Hollywood. under the direction OF the
highway commission, by force account and |
without any restrictions complications due
TO contracts, is defective that when the
commissions attention is directed to it by
the newspapers, It states in effect that it will
not accept its own work. Further comment
is superfuous.
EXTRAVAGANCE EVIDENT
We now wish TO direct your attention to
the excessive cost of constructing the mac
adam portion of the roads, viz: the hauling,
placing, rolling, oiling and finishing of the
rock portion of the roads. We find that the
cost per ton by contracts already let for laying
macadam on roads will be 81. .65 on FL Monte
Pomona road, S163 on Whittier road and Sl69
Based on prices Of like work in Pasadena
and in Los Angeles, the mismanagement Of
the highway commission has cost the county
$50 263 on these three contracts.
Mr. Loder, chief engineer of the highway
commission, has made the statement in the
public press that certain roads, aggregating
53.9 miles, have been contracted for at a net
saving of $40. 02l over the estimate previous to
the bond election. We say the aggregate cost
Of the roads enumerated by him will be very
close to 100000, or 500 900 above his prelimi-
nary estimate.
WON'T BACK WATER
Our statement that sixty-fve miles will cost
ssS1 600 stands. We do not include in the
sixty-fve miles any part of the work on San
Fernando road nor the tunnel at Newhall, |
the Hollywood -Touca road Eagle Rock !
road because these roads would unduly raise
the average cost per mile. The roads COM
prising these sixty-Gve miles are FL Monte
road Wiltshire road Long Beach boulevard,
Section one Of Washington street Vermont
avenue and Sunset boulevard, Prospect ave
nue.. Compton road, Florence and Slauson
avenues, Los Feliz road. Whittier road, El
Monte Pomona road. Harbor boulevard, Ma
Piles road and Huntington drive We say that
The average cost per mile Of the above roads
will be s19,55O Z
Let us see what must be the average cost ,
7f the balance of the 3O7 miles. Deducting 7
1851 900 from the total bond issue Of S3,j000OO I
we have left s2,6l9 900 to build 242 miles of
'oad, including the San Fernando tunnel and
several expensive bridges We find that the
average cost Of these remaining roads must
nc about SlOSOO per mile, which is substan-
tally less than the cost of any of the roads
to date.
NEVER MIND COST {
Tho highway commission is making great I
'ffort to get a large amount Of work under q
way, and in doing has apparently adopted l
Is It's motto, Build roads; build them /
heaply If bids prices of material will per- S
nit, but build them at any cost" The fol- c
owing instances illustrate its attitude: The S
ost Of El Monte Pomona road will be S12 O1S j
yer mile, which is certainly excessive as the
TEN of culverts, bridges and grading are I
small and the haul of materials Of s
is short. The use of Riverside