Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1918-02-24
State Engineer Cunningham
Tells of Work in Past
Year in Report.

! l'ffhl lUthi OF IilkU"hShi M"N y"
, Cunningham, state engineer, says IN
part
IT " impossible TO make q COM
fhIrto report VI the sums 6pont by al
counties Tor the reason that the re-
ports ~ Adhlr Beaver Delaware,
Dewey Garfield, Glrvin Grady,
Greer Harmon. Murray Nowata,
Oklahoma. routo'oc. Seminole. Sc-
quoyah stephens and Texas counties
were not returned 10 this office with
In the time given the county officials
10 complete same Come counties.
nniiCrably Tulsa ana Okmulgee,
made prompt ana excellent reports.
Come such uv Adair and Harmon.
have mover reported A good many
counties have failed To Keep an rec
ordH of road and bridge oSpendi-
tureN and In some. the records were
so poorly Kept that II was Impossible
10 collect the data IN the six or
eight weeks given for that purpose.
"itoad construction has improved
In puhllty this year ns many cpun-
ties have made particular efforts to
hnndlc the more difficult and oVpen-
siVe portion of their work In bus
inens,like way and have been well
repaid for their efforts Tulsa
county has done some particularly
heavy work At remarkably reason
able figure, using county orghnizn.
tion 10 build approaches TO the south
end of the Sand Springs bridge and
contracting very difficuit piece Of
work along the Arkansas river bet
tween Sand Springs and TulHa. This
county has also added about seven
miles Of lithomastic pavement to It's
system Of roads, although the work
hns not been finished owing 10 ia.
ability to get material
Maintenance problems are eN-
ccedingly difficult In Oklahoma ow-
Ing TO the preponderance Df motor
traffic on system al earth roads
and also IN sccouM ~ annual
dronthH and prevailing high winds
Some men have however, done well
and others have done very badly
There is u case where ono county has
been reported to M as having the
worst roads In oklahoma, II not In
the civilized world. while malnten-
ance conditions ~ the adjoining
county were most satlsfac ctory Snl
condition In both counties we're
about tho same ana 30 were weather
conditions Each county had about
the same amount ~ money per mile
To spend, hut IN one county It was
iutelligently spent and Iva the ad-
Joining county II wns hetd to trans
fer TO construction fund at the be
ot the next fiscal year. so as
10 reduce the tax rate n ~ our un-
q f.afa a lt...v ~ IL.
tor vehicle tax was 10 he spent and
spent for q definite purpose aud ev-
cry motor owner who has had any
thine To complain about has based
his grief on the poor maintenance
work done IN his neighborhood and
not on the fee he pays u lsa hard
matter TO convince such n complain.
ant that we feel for him but can't
touch his particular case Referring
him to his local nuthnTitles usually
results In rrfrcttahly profane OK
preston Of his personal feelings In
the matter. II socms that nothing
hut real central supervision will
cure this evil and some such action
Ia strongly recommended
The general adoption OF masonry
culyerts and the elimination with
these OF numerous short treEtles has
been one of the most satisfactory de-
NelopmentS OF the year Many spans
M long as 80 feet have been short
ened 10 or & feet and good big
fills built over tho masonry with
resultant lesseulng OF maintenance
cost Working through tho openings
to tho drainage area instead OF the
size Of the draw and Hs result we
have even been able 10 convince
some township officials that This
type OF construction IN worth while,
although we have made townships
take over good many two and three
span frame trestlcs that were built
n good many years ago AND being
longer than 20 feet, were paid Tor hy
the counties We have OF course,
since materials we're 80 expensive
and hard To Het made our old open
ings last aA long aa We could and In
many cases. have repaired culverts
that we would have rebuilt In other
years, but II seemed best. under ok
istinR conditions, to follow this plan
and we have patched up many cul-
Vcrts and halt soled a good many
bridges In consequence
This state and this nation is face
70 face with the greatest transpnrta-
tion problem ever put up to MldeS
iy scattered people This need can
not he met without thGAdirecton OF
affairs. being IN the hIYds OF sor'c
one who can really handle II, but
We, In oklahoma, Rro too recent
corporate organization "a he pre-
pared. crops are heiug moved he
cause they must he, ut an annual
expense that is almost lncouceivahle.
Traffic has been forced from the
railroads 20 the highways and we arc
not prepared TO take care of q
Money has been spent on the roads
OF the state. on all the roads ot the
state, sufficient. II properly expended
to build an the main arteries Of trade
NO need but the roads are most I
failing 20 meet tho de
mnnds ON Them since the Missouri I
and Kausts troops have been nt
Camp noniphan and the railroads Z
have been oyerhurdened with un
usual train movements. the motor I
traffic to that point has been tre-
meudous and yet we are unable to I
direct amy one hN "A good road II ts
uf course. difficult TO Keep up earth 7.
roads under the unusual traffic and /.
weather conditions We have been f.
aoudcndInr with. Vet this office n .