The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-06-02
COMMISSIONERS
DELAY ACTION
ON new ROADS
Petitioners Urge Postpone
ment of Decision Until In
vestigation is Made.

vest1gatlon is Made.
The county commissioners, sitting
Monday morning as a board of view
ers to decide whether brick, cement or
bituminous macadam roads shall be
built in the countys s75o,ooo road pro-
gram, postponed their final decision
until the first Monday in July.
The decision followed a request
from Will w. Keller. attorney for the
petitioners for the 1S-mile Hagers-
town pike, the first link to be built,
that the board take this action instead
of ordering any single kind of road
without further investigation Mon
day was the last day in which the COM
missioners are given by law to decide
or to put off the decision.
Would Secure More Data.
Keller also requested that the COM
missioners secure data from the Indi-
ana and Ohio state highway commits
sions, from the highway engineering
department of Purdue university, and
from the federal highway commits
sions, upon the first costs, the main
tenance and durability Of various
types of roads, instead Of taking their
information from agents Of companies
which handled material for road
| building.
Keller said that the petitioners had
heard that the commissioners favored
stone or bituminous macadam roads.
"If they are to be the best type, the
| least expensive and most durable" he
said, of course the petitioners will
be satisfied with decision upon this
| type of road. But the general impress
sion Is that this type of road is not
good, and the stone roads in the coun-
| ty have certainly been waste of
! money.
1--WE believe also that the commits
sioners should consider the cost of
maintenance as well as the first cost.
A road that has to be maintained and
resurfaced every three or four years
is expensive, besides being a great in
| convenience to users, to have sec
tions of it closed for weeks while re
pairs are being made. The commits
sioners would be criticized if they put
in a road which had to be repaired
every few years.
! Board Acting Conscientiously.
I'VE believe that the board is acting
honestly and that it wants the best
| type of road possible for the county
and wants the facts which will enable
it to get this kind of road. We, there
fore, ask that the decision be put OF
until this data can be secured"
Keller said that in his opinion, the
new law did not give the commission
ers the right to decide upon more
than one type of road 1t would be
a good thing in some ways If they
could ask for bids for several kinds
4 of roads, and. could then make theil
decision in the face Of what the con
tractors actually asked to build the
roads for, he said, but from the word
ing of the law he believed this to be
impossible.
He quoted the section of the new
county law which says that the loves
responsible bidder shall be given tht
contract and said that he believed
this section prevents the asking O
bids for several kinds of road, for un
der it the commissioners would havt
to give the contract to the man will
the cheapest type of road.
Petitioners want concrete.
Keller gave the concensus of opinion
of the petitioners for the Hagerstowl
. road as that the road should be o
concrete. He said they had consid
cred brick, but believed it to be to-
expensive to be practical.
. Charles Teetor, of Hagerstowr,
petitioner emphasized Reller's state
ment that the petitioners believed tn
commissioners should get their il
formation from official sources.
Absolutely the best way" he saiG
/ would be to make personal investiga
ton of roads of the types considered
: getting the facts at first hand an
seeing with their own eyes how tn
/ roads had stood up under wear
While some of the smoothest an
most beautiful roads he had drive
over in California and New York wer
Of asphaltic construction, he said, the
had to be rigidly supervised; tn
speed had to be kept low and heav
! traffic had to be kept off Of them.
: 1--WE want roads for our market an
traffic highways which will take an.
| thing from a baby cab to a tractio
: engine" said Teetor, "and I am nc
; sure that an asphaltic or bituminou
, road will give us this"
Want Wide Roadway.
Frank Mason of Hagerstown, al
peared to ask the board to provid
/ for road thirty-six feet wide throug
> Hagerstown, the town to bear the e.
: pense of the extra width. Among th
3 petitioners present were Teetor, NJ;
3 son, Gates Davis, Horace Hoover, a
bert Jones and Daniel Clark, all {
Hagerstown or vicinity
: The commissioners passed upo
3 claims against the county for tt
! month Of May before the road hea
ing.