Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1916-04-14
CITIZENS ARE
WORKING FOR
PAVED STREETS
Real Enthusiasm Shown on All
Sides for the Big
Project.
EVERY NEIGHBORHOOD
TO BE PETITI0NED
Cost of Improvement Will Be
Spread Over a Number
of Years.

Paving IS the topic OF the hour in
Bismarck. Paving materials, paving
costs, paving benefits, the possible
extension Of the paving district TO
include property not originally coy
ered-these are the subjects which
are being discussed in capital
city business houses, on the street
and at home. Upon one point all are
agreed-paving is good thing; Bis.
marck needs more paving and Bis.
marck will have it. How large a dis,
trict can be paved this year; how
soon paving can be commenced; what
preliminary work is necessary, when
and how it will be done, are Ques,
tions upon which there is not such
general lmanimity.
In the Game to Stay.
The streets committee of the Com
mercial club announces that it has
gone into the game with the inten.
ton Of staying. The committee has
methodically set about its gigantic
task of lining up all the property
holders in the paving district. A
clerk is devoting his entire time this
week to transcribing record Of ii
ties to frontage affeShea, and when
the committee and its numerous sub
committees set out next week on
their canvass of the city, they will
know whom they are to approach.
1t is necessary that ST per cent ol
the resident property-holders be rep
resented on the petition, if action is
to be made obligatory upon the part
Of the commission. The city com
mission is already committed to d
paving plan, so no difficulty is antici
pated from that source. Probably 81
per cent of the frontage in the orig
inal paving district is already repre-
sented, and there has been pledged
80 per cent, or more, of the frontage
in number of sub-districts which
prOperty-owners desire added to thu
main district.
Oddly enough, the only criticism t(
which the Commercial club commit
tee has been subjected is that it ha:
/ not made it's district sufficiently in
elusive. The telephone has been oc
| cupied during the past three day:
| with calls from large property-hold
ers who have complained that block!
in which they are interested have
been omitted. 1t is believed tina
there will be considerably less diff
Guilty in enlarging the district tt
meet these demands than would be
the case were it found necessary t
reduce the size of the district.
Cost Really insignificant.
The cost Of paving long has beer
a bugaboo to the uninitiated. AS ;
matter of fact, it will cost very little
more, if as much, to pave in front o
the average residence property, the
Commercial club contends, than il
would to give a dwelling two new
coats of paint. No residence stree
will be paved to width of more thar
80 feet. Some of Bismarck's mos
exclusive avenues have already beer
laid out with but "a feet Of roadway
10 provide for wide parking strips
In these areas, presuming that btu
lithic paving were used, the cost pei
front foot would be but $2.95, or fol
the average 50-foot lot, $147.50. This
amount, if spread over 20 years
would require annual payments o
less than $12 for the average city
lot. In the case of a 30-foOt paving
strip, the cost would be approximate
ly SIS pc rannum.
Even with the very largest proper
ty-holders, the expense is surprising
ly smaller than it would appear a
first glance. One of the first signers
of the paving petition had estimated
that his 1900 feet of frontage, muct
of which is in the business district
would cost him in the neighborhood
of $4,000. AS a matter of fact, fig
ured at an average of S. per from
foot, his paving will cost him $4,000
or, if distributed over 20 years, an
nual installments of about $3.50.
What Paving Will Save.
Paving will save about 80 per cent
of the present cost of upkeep; it will
do away with the necessity of build
ing crosswalks in the paved area
which this year alone woula save the
taxpayers $1,5OO; it will do away with
much of the loss and wear and teal
which comes from dust, dirt and mud
blown in or tracked into our bust
ness houses and homes from earth
roads; it will do away with SO pei
cent of Bismarck's sewer trouble and
storm drain trouble; it will do away
with the present hazard from un
Continued on Page TWo)