The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-12-24
CITY COUNCIL AND CONT CTORS MEET;
DISCUSS BITULITIIC and CEMENT ROADS
Council Favors Bitulthic; Representative Of
Cement Sales Company Asks For
Reconsideration Of
Specifications ss5 s.dS

same thing and t.,accepted the bids
of the cement, contractors for q
portion Of its streets and laid
considerable paving Of that type. No
l body guaranteed the cement paving
and 1t Is said to be going to pieces
rapidly while the bitulithic paving
laid by the Blackfoot council has
! never needed any repairs and is
guaranteed for full Ave years. These
are some of the things that are pass
ing back and forth among the coun-
oilmen in regard to paving questions.
Some Of them claim that the cement
roads in Utah are going to pieces
badly In places and this is remarked
by many travellers driving between
here and Sale Lake. We have here
| tofore published statements that in
road construction in Utah, the state
t0r highway district had to keep an
Inspector on the jobgall the time and
Instances were given Of where CO.
ment roads were under construction
and improper mixtures were dumped
In and the inspector could not make
them take 1t out and replace It with
proper mixture. Those sections df
the road broke down, travel was In
|terrupted and nobody seemed re-
aponsible Tor the expense OF rebuild
ing. ,. ". \.
II Comment is being freely made that
where cement roads are laid the I'M.
.ished surface has to be kept under.
water for q period, then 1t has to be
protected for some time with q layer
|pf moist earth and that it takes
somewhere from fifteen to thirty
days after the work 10 actually COM
pleted before the public is permitted
70 travel on 1t. In the case OF bitu-
lithic pavingtit is ready for use as.
soon as It Is laid and rolled down.
II When the BlackfOOts council
adopted bitulithic four years ago,
they adopted 1t because they believed
At was the more serviceable and more
satisfactory and they also considered
that when construction work was gO-S
ing on in the business tristrict, 1t
was a great advantage to stores and
offices to- have, the street opened up
.feRdy for traffic as soon as the pave
meat was laid as compared with hav-
it to ripen and harden. . @ .is 4
A A Test Case "
ing to wait fifteen or thirty days for
The representative OF the cement
interests claims that they are being
unreasonably pfnched out by harsh
specifications requiring the use Of a
tenth Of barrel more cement per
square that is necessary. The btu
lithic fellows counter by saying the
cement interests are trying to get
the specifications cut down to a
cheap job so they can either get the
contract, finish the job and go on
without leaving guarantee, or put
ina very low bid on the small job
which Blackfoot has to let alongside
Of bitulithic paving, see the contract
awarded to the cement people and
then use that as an advertisement in
their favor in other cities or in case
it is awarded to bitulithic people, to
get some interested citizens inter-
ested and convinced that they are
letting the contract to high bidders
without getting the high values to
justify it and have such interested
citizens bring an injunction to stop
WIN 1uu thCAOoy 0oo IA0 UlI-
ullthic contractors and the council
that does not accept the cement
work. There are residents Of the
town studying the situation who sug-
gest that perhaps all this protest by
the cement people is for the purpose
of making test case to see IL the |
courts will rule that city councils |
and other bodies representing the
people and expending the peoples
money must accept the lowest bids
that are made for different types Of
work and that they have no right to
accept the higher bid even tho the
council thinks that such construction |
will be better, for the people than
construction they would receive by
accepting the lower bids. 1t that
theory is correct, the result would
be that having court decision say
ing that the lowest bids must be
accepted, then all that the cement
people would have to do would be
to under bid the bitulithic contrac-
tors everywhere and get the work.
II It is true, as claimed, that not |
many OF the cement contractors
guarantee their WORK ana tnat
trouble ana interruption o. trafnc 10
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