The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1916-07-28
STATE AND COUNTY POLITICS
Pouring Money Into Roads by Bad Management
State Highway Commission an Expensive
impeachment. Bingham County Buncoed

ed some repairs and. the state high
way commission was asked to fix it.
The state engineer came over to:
Blackfoot, hired al auto and driver
and went out to look it over. He
found by his own observation that it
needed fixing. Then a deputy came
and hired an auto and driver and
went out over the line and he had
knowledge of what was needed. Ar
rangements were made to get crushed
rock delivered on the ground and it
was delivered. Then they arranged
for somebody to do the work for the
state and 1t was necessary to take
him out over the line, and he had
knowledge of what was needed. Then
the arrangements were made for ma
chinery and tools for the job, and
the Bingham county steam roller was
taken down the line and placed by
the roadside ready for operations.
The man in charge Of the work was
staying at a Blackfoot hotel and the
weather changed and became SO cold
and snowy it prevented operations.
For several weeks during the early
part Of 1916 he remained idle at the
hotel because each day the weather
was unfit for road work. The snow
WAS deep and the temperature was
How and nothing else was to be ex-
lpected. When spring came the work
|ers had scattered and the steam roll
Ter still stood by the roadside. The
weather then became quite dry and
lit was said that dry weather was not
favorable to patching macadam road
beds and they waited. Up to mid
lsummer the situation remained un-
changed, and when urged to repair
1.-THE road, the state engineer said
there was no money available, but
the holes still remained in the road
and grew larger by the heavy park
travel. The city of Blackfoot hired
the use of the steam roller to use
lin the matchmaking of streets, and
lit was brought back to town and de-
livered to the men who were to use
lit. Up to the present time the ex'
pense for repairing the road has ex'
ceeded $4,000 and nothing is done
but the delivery of some crushed
rock by the roadside.
Regarding the acceptance of the
road from Fl. Hall to the northern
line of the county by the state, the
highway commission urged The
county commissioners to complete the
grading which they refused to lei
the contractor do last year, and then
they said, it would be accepted. The
county commissioners decided tC
grade the rest of it and get it off OF
their hands and had it graded from
the north end of the macadam tc
the Blackfoot river, and from the
sugar factory to Kimball. The spring
proved to be too dry to allow the
roads to pack, and the heavy park
travel has been wading thru dust al
summer. By the time the fall rains
come it will probably need grading
again. 1t has been ready to accept
for some time according to the spec1'
tications, but the highway commits
sion has decided that it must be
crowned with gravel first. The com
missioners have discovered now, that
the state commission has no money
anyhow, and if they accepted it, the
travellers would still have to put VI
with dust, and after the fall rains
come it would still be rough unless
the county repaired it, because the
state being out of funds for such
work could not do it. The officials
sitting in their offices at Boise would
suffer no injury If the road were
impossible the whole length of Bling.
ham county, so. the local people
would have to suffer the %inconveni'
ence or do the repairing or both. II
is reported that grading similar tc
what Bingham county paid As cents
a yard for has been done by the
same people in other counties al
prices ranging as low as IS cents
and the state highway commission
having knowledge of these differ
ences does not seem to have tried tC
protect the counties whose officials
manifested lack of judgment or lack