The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1918-11-26
ASSESSMENTS
FOR PAYING IN
NO. 2 APPROVED
Last Legal Step in Extensive
Street Improvement Plan
Taken Last Night
CRY PROUD OF ITS WORK
Bismarck Now Ranks at Head of
North Dakota Municipali-
ties in Pavement
CRY PROUD OF ITS WORK

The last legal step In the closin,
of Bismarck's first extensive stree
Improvement project, one which has
involved an investment of more thar
$500,O0O in approximately nine miles
OF bitulithic and asphalt paving, was
taken Monday evening when the cit,
commission unanimously approved the
assessment rolls for district No. 2, al
prepared by the special assessmen,
commission composed of C. L. Young
F. L. Conklin and E. C. Taylor.
No property-holder appeared in per
son to protest the assessment. Ed IS
Allen appeared for E. G. Patterson and
others, and F. H. Register presented a
petition in writing. Mr.. Register ar
gued that the improvement did not
enhance the value of various lots
which he owns to an extent commen
surate with the costs. In fact, he Of
fered the rather unusual argument
that the paving has decreased the sell
ing value of his property He also
objected to the appropriation which
which had been allowed for engineer.
ing fees, approximately five percent of
the total costs. This amount covered
the preparation OF plans and specifi-
cations and all other preliminary
work, as we'll as inspection and super,
vision during the period Of construc-
ton. ."-
History Of Paving.
Up to 1916, Bismarck with all its
other monuments to progress, had
Jess than three whole blocks Of paw
ing. The only streets improved were
two half blocks on Fourth and Fifth
leading from Main to the Northern
Pacific station and one black OF the
Northern Pacific driveway These
were paved with brick. In bad wealth.
or traffic plunged from this little
island into a sea of mud.
Early in 1916 the Commercial club
through a special committee headed
sby w. E. Lahr began the circulation
OF paving petitions. While it was not
q legal requirement, the city commits
sion had advised the Commercial club
that it would feel better justified in
going ahead with the extensive pro.
gram. outlined, if the improvement
were petitioned for by more than SO
per cent Of the property-holderst
When 1.-The Commercial club presented
its petitions they carried the sienat
lures OF approximately 70 per centaof
the property holders in a district en-
bracing IL miles of streets. This ter
ritory was reduced Ibout 33 per cent,
and two paving districts, emoodying
about nine miles of streets in all, were
created by the city commission.
The same fall contracts for the
down town district were awarded Han
lon & Okes, and bitulithic form of
paving was agreed upon for this Sec
tion The paving company started it's
work late in the summer and con-
tinued operations until the first of De-
cember, by which time several of the
more important streets in the bus.
ness district had been paved. 'f.Han-
lon & Okes completed their; work in
the spring of, 1917, and the Ford Paw
ing Co., which had secured the con-
tract for the larger district in the res
idence section, completed the greater
part of it's work during the 1917 sea-
son, winding up its contract during
the spring and early summer of this
year. -
Proud Of Streets.
It would be stating it rather mild
ly to say that Bismarck is we'll salts
fled with and proud of it's big paving
project. There was some dissatisfac'
tion with the bitulithic pavement laid
in the downtown district so late that
the material all but froze before it
had time to set. These defects have
been remedied, however. and the con-
tractors bond covers any bad spots
which the wear of the next few years
may discover. The asphalt paving
laid in the residence district has
been commended by experts generally
as one of the finest in the northwest.
In both districts the cost OF the
paving was reasonable. The price was
less than half what would have to be
paid were this work. done today. The
special assessment commission in
levying its costs found that people
generally we're agreeably surprised to
find that their assessment was lower
than anticipated. In practically every |
instance the final assessed cost was
lower than the city engineers esti-
mates.
Corner lots were the biggest prob
lem with which the assessors had to
deal After investigating the methods
of two dozen cities in Minnesota, Iowa
and North Dakota, the assessors fin
ally adopted the st. Paul plan, which
relieves the corner lots of much of
the extraordinary burden which they
would bear on q frontage basis and
distributes this load equitably over
the entire block. This plan is regard
ed by municipal experts to be the
fairest possible.
Bismarck now has a peramnent i'm
covered by stiff guaran-
tees and warranted to give good serv-
ice for twenty years to come The
base is practically frdestruct-
ible. and future repairs will consist
merely Of resurfactng where the btu
lith'c or asphalt is worn through by
traffic. On the residence streets
where traffic is comparativelv light,
no such repairs should eba required for
. generationu to 'EoQeE no bsl.