The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-05-21
BRIDGEPORT IS
 PAYING 50 PER
 CENT. TOO MUCH
Lack of Competition Allows Warren Bros. Go. to
 Make Own Price.
CONCRETE ROADS TO
 SOLVE THE PRoBLEMi
Evils That Grow Out of. Intimacy of City Officials
 With Contractors.

Those who have followed the paw ing articles in The Farmer know that Warrenite is a mixture of crush ed stone, and asphalt, upon which>th the 1 owners have procured a patent. Bit ulithic is another such mixture, also patented. There is no end to the millions of ways of mixing stone Of various sizes, asphalt, sand. limestone 1 and other materials in manners which might be patented.
 These pavements belong to a. class called under the general name of bi- luminous concrete. One of them is toa be as good as another, if 1t is well made
 But if the stone is not properly sheateds and ifsthe asphaltSfs not prop erly heated and the whole properly mixed, if the stuff is not spread be- fore, the mixture is too cold, if the, road bed is not properly prepared. | and if the mixture is not laid in a, suitable quantity and properly rolled, the road will be inferior is not enough to buy a pavement 1 which would be all right. If it were properly 1aid- It will not be all right unless the materials are good, and the work Is done as it ought to be- l One of the dangers of undue inti- | Macies between. manufacturers of pa-
 
 ficials who purchase these pavem ents, is that the public will pay too high a 1 price Another danger1 is that the l9work will be skimped, and poorly dones
 The New Jersey committee, which investigated the relations of certain patent pavement makers, with New Jersey highways found both evils. The committee concluded that ninety cents would be a fair price for ETT~ / -s-I. l larger price was paid Roads built where such conditions exist are not likely to stand up as we'll SIt has already been noted in l Bridgeport that the Warrenite laid under state supervision appears to be Egtand1ng up much better than that I laid under city supervision.
 The New Jersey committee consid- cred the patented pavements of bitu- nntnous concrete, and compared them I with respect to their worth, with the unpatented pavements. and reached this conclusion.,
 .TThe unpatented biturninouse con crete pavement of the so-caIled To Il polka types 1t was shown by the tes- timonys Is as good as the patented article and can be built for much~less mohey.
 Thea commission concluded that bi- luminous concrete two inches thick. I ought to be laid. with a fair profit Il to the contractor GOTNSO cents a square yard In it's own practice the City I of Newark was able to lay a better pavement for less money than ninety cents
 I The cost Of Warrenite in Bridgeport has been nominal1y $1.2O a square yard, but practically much more7 In 1918 Warrenfte pavement was laid on I lConnectcut avenue from Stratford avenue from the railroad viaduet feet or 23. .693 square yards. The cost was $1-36 a yard, not including cer- tain expenses borne by the city, as the expense of inspection, the cost of engineering, etc
 In 1918, 1861 nneaI feet, or 2O,730 square yards were laid on Fairfield avenue, from the Stratford viaduct to the city line, at cost of $1. so per square yard not including engi- neering and inspection
 This work had a five year guar l antee. At the same time a very small piece of concrete only a few 2 square yards, was laid on Fairfield avenue at $2.25 a square yard, not including inspection and engineering. This was probably not an excessive price for so small a quantity.
 The guarantee is for ten years. This pavement. will probably be found to be much cheaper at the end of ten I years, than the Warrenite. i The New Jersey committee. hav- l ing reached the conclusion that the I unpatented bituminous concrete is as good as Warrenite, and costs less consi dered the advantage of concrete, concluding that as a pavement for ordinary uses, 1t is better and cheap CT than bituminous-
 (Continued on Page Two1