Norwich bulletin., 1918-01-07
ANOTHER YEAR TO
 BUILD NlANTIc BRIDGE
Found Impossible to Secure Steel or
 Material Within Reasonable Time.

Found Impossible to Secure Steel or
 Material Within Reasonable Time. . Speaking of road construction dur ing the past year the annual report of state highway commission just is- sued says:
 During the past year the work of road construction has been restrict ed because the legislature of 1915 did not make appropriations for new road construction. The legislature of 1917, however. made ample provisions for new construction. Consequently. the coming two years should show an increase in the mileage of improved highways, though this amount of work will of necessity be restricted on ac- count of rules made by the United States. government for the improve ment only of necessity roads and al- so by the increased difficulty in se- curing labor and material on account of existent war conditions. A total mileage of all classes of 2S.26 miles nas been newly built during the year GOV cred by this report, which brings the total net mileage of highways in the state, including both state aid and trunk lines to 1,457.2S miles. Of this total, the department has reconstruct ed; with hard surface pavement, 31,27 miles, during the tern of this report.
 :. In connection with the discussion of road construction this department has become more firmly convinced that the necessities of Ihe present day traffic on main highways require the construe- tion of pavements of a high character. Conditions at present are abnormal but even without the war, there is a constant increase in the demand for 8 twelve month use of the roads which makes it necessary to expend more and more money in the construction of improved types of road surface al 8 considerable additional expense Ii i is hoped, during the coming year, to l construct, only such roads as are ot vital. necessity 10 the passage o1 | through traffic CT to the development of facilities for the prosecution of the
 war. This policy may interfere ir | some instances with the development of the state highway system from the l standpoint of the tourist Or for the improvement of local communities, but everything must. be done to further the country's interest and this depart | ment expects to work in cooperation with the authorities in the develop ment of roads which are a necessity
 both from military and commercial I standpoint, in the successful comple. tion of the war.
 Trunk Line Bridges.
 i In the construction of trunk 1int
 bridges, the department has expended
 or constructed for the, construction O bridges to the value of approximate
 ly s3o0, ,000, which includes state fund and refunds to be received from town l -fr
 panies making a net expenditure 0 the state in the vicinity of $150, 00C
 This money has not all been spent, bu
 contracts have been let for severa
 bridges now under construction.
 Maintenance and Repair of Roads.
 The increase in motor traffic durin the past year has been abnormal an
 has made it necessary to expend larg
 CT sums fer the ordinary repairs c
 roads and to increase the expendi
 ture for permanent repairs.
 The cost of repairs, of course, ha
 Increased due to the increase in tn
 cost of both labor and material. Tn
 total amount expended for both or
 dinary and permanent repairs of trun
 line roads for the. mileage under re
 pair for the past four years is a follows:
 1s13-14. s7s5,oss.s4: 1s14-15, $s7s 936.44; 19l5-16, $sS1,6os.73; 1S16-1 ,tt1, ,495, ,4s6.45 Il The Bolton Notch Crossing. The elimination of grade crossing z
 Bolton was done in o-operation wit the N. Y, N. H. & H. R. R. Co. Thi particular piece of work eliminate : dangerous grade crossing and straight ,
 way. The work while not entirel
 completed is, opened to traffic and : satisfactory "e-z'- e-'
 Thames River Bridge.
 The legislature of 1917 required tf | state highway department to tran. 7 form the Thames River Railroa t bridge into a highway structure upo t it's abandonment by the railroad con 5 pany.
 Owing to delays, On the part of u t Railroad company in the completion } the new railroad bridge it has bet l found impossible to do anything vii r the actual reconstruction of this O 7 lbridge. Due to the indefinite date which the bridge was to be vacated, 3 was impossible to let a contract f, t the reconstruction. so undoubtedly u
 work will not be done during u l coming year. S In view of the difficulty of securir steel and other material for the r l construction work the amount appr, : priated by the legislature will prob; j. | bly, be far exceeded by the aggrega g cost e H1e work when done, so that
 is possible that other action by u
 legislature will be necessary in ord
 to start this work.
 Mantle River Bridge.
 This department was instructed
 the legislature of 1917 to construct
 bridge over the Mantle river betwe'
 the towns of East Lyme and Wate :, ford, and under a ruling of the W /. department, this bridge was to be CO 2 strusted before January 1, 1918. It was found impossible to secu V suitable bids for the proper co ' struction of this bridge within t d time specified, and in fact, it W e found practically impossible to secu : steel or material for this bridge wit ss in any reasonable limit of time. Cons U quently, this department has petitio II ed the war department for an exte y sion of the time during which u y bridge is to be built and has secur y permission to defer the date of col e pletion until January 1, 1919. This g u tion seems to be wise because of t = lack of necessity for a new bridge e this point, sufficient to offset the | s of material which might be needed :, other points in the prosecution of