Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-05-22
WEDNESDAY,. MAY %. 1913.
Roadhuilding in Earnest

The State Highway ommSSloh' ~ "
meeting held in this city on Monday
awarded. on the recommendation oi
Chief Engineer Charles NJ lpham. SIX
contracts for road Improvement IN thus
State. Among the contracts arc two
which call for the thorough rebuilding
and secure establishment IF tic Fhl-
adelphia pike from Wilmington 70 the
PENNSYLVANIA State line an Improvement
that has insistontlv demanded attention
for several wears
The aggregate of the slv contracts -
81 or. .2S6 10 These figures sound i'm
rrcssivc. and few wears as" would hay"
been looked ,pon ae prohrhltIvo - com
parison with tho amount of work ~
prospect Rnf nmos havc hanged
radically during rocent voars, sud We
cannot now avoid paving tho penalty o'
our disregard Of tho important subject
Of road Improvement for several yca's.
covering period whom III" work included
in these contracts could havo hCcn ror-
formed for ono-half tho prescott cost, Or
less Had tho Legislature adopted the
DrrN'er b,u for 2 loan of S11oNo with
which to construct 2 state highway,
about ten wears ago The road would have
been m active uee long erc this, vlt} on'N
the additional cost y upkoer and rcpairs
And thousands IL dolars would have hoon
sawed
However. there Il mo nec crvlpa oycr
spilled milk. snd tho only thrne I" ~
now is to face rrcscn' contHor and do
the hest they may o'Tcr pon the
recommendation Of Chief Engineer ! ~
ham. the State Highway Commission
rejected the first hds received for thc
contemplated scheme of road improve
mont, doeming them too high ara
asked for ncw bids The ncu buds. oror-
ed on Monday. showed matorial rrdnr-
thin over tho first once. but thc situation
presents not the slightest probability of
getting even lower lnde h1 fmthor IL av
On tho contrarv. thcre IS reason ~ tear
that moncy. as we'll rs timo woIld hC
sacrificed by m attempt 70 tu1Ite other
bids, rs There arc no elements ~ the b'el-
ness situation 10 hold ont the hopc that
future bids would bc any lower than those
received this wceb Thcy would prat
ably bo higher
The most Important IS well rs the
coe4liest. of the contracts arc thc two
for the improvement oi The Philadelphia
pike They aggregate S5N1 22d figures
that would have seemed cuormous few
years ago Yet in consideration Of pre-
vailing conditions thcv are fairly reason
able. and the necessity for this improve
mtnf Is OF sufficient consequence 10 war
rant the OUTLAY provided tho results are
satisfactory And no doubt tho state
Highway Commission viii attend 10 the
important matter
In respect of that portion Of the State
Highway between SMYRNA and ChcsvoId,
and Of the road between Ellendale and
Milford, the latter an extension of the
du Pont boulevard. contracts were not
awarded, the bids being considerably
higher than the estimates of tho chief
engineer. II IS possible, however, that
arrangements mak be made that Will
allow the contracts for these two sections
tobe awarded one was practically adjust
ed Yesterday av-thus completing the plan
for the construction Of a complete state
highwav 1t would be decidedly un-
satisfactory to have al other work com
pIeted and gap left Of these two sec
tions. and II IS hoped the State Highway
Commission viii be able to complete plans
for obuating such an awkward inter
ruption as tins would be
The cost Of the construction over these
two gaps, and the cost Of the construction
OF the road from Dover to Cheswold will
be borne by Mr. Coleman du Pont, who
slready has constructed a boulevard al
most the entire length Of Sussex county,
which will be included IN the general
scheme Of road Improvement now entered
upon This will materially reduce the
cost Of the entire work to the State.
However, the matter Of cost has been
fully considered, and the money to meet
it is IN sight Now let the good work
proceed.
The number of subscribers to the first
I Ffafa