The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-12-24

The council had a meeting or
Tuesday evening and went over mat
ters connected with the water work.
and the new paving. They passed ~
ordinance that is one step in ths
creation Of the new paving distrtc1
for spring work which will be pub
lished In this paper on Friday
George B. Stone, q representative 81
the Cement Sales company asked thu
council to reconsider the speciaca'
tions heretofore used for making ce'
ment street paving and to adopt
set Of specifications that werd more
nearly In keeping with what Is con-
sidered good standard road foI
J America. He said that II they
would make comparisons they would
find that the specifications they had
heretofore contracted bids upon are
OF the kind that very few cities and
states ever use because they are con-
sidered more expensive than is nee
essary for. all ordinary traffic. HE
said that IL cement contractors bid
on such work as that their work
would necessarily be high and 1t gave
those bidding on other forms of pave
ment an opportunity to 60 up higher
than they would otherwise do, and
that 1t simply eliminated all faif
competition from the bidding. He
was not asking that they put In e.
ment paving, but he was asking that
they adopt standard specifications
and give everybody q fair chance.
Then after the bids were open they
would be free to adopt any type Of
paving they wanted to and would
know that they had fair and com
petitive bids on everything. M
The council referred the matter to
the street and alley committee with
instructions to investigate and re-
port at the next meeting which is
likely to be next Tuesday evening.
The council favored bitulithic paw
ing, that which they have laid hay-
ing been very satisfactory and show
ing no defects In the several years
it has been used. The paving that
is to be put in next spring is scat
tered round in different places and
is not large quantity. One Of the
councilmen said that he did not wish
to see the cement paving mixed in In
small sections In different parts Of
town; that he wanted to see it uni
form and If the bids for cement paw
ing should prove to be $1.00 a yard
lower than bitulithic, he would still
take bitulithic. Another member Of
the council said he thought those
things were up to the city engineer
to decide and to advise the council
what to do. A visitor at the meeting
said he did not entirely agree with
those expressions; he thought the
taxpayers, living adjacent to the pro-
posed paving and who would have to
pay the bills were entitled to have
their wishes observed as much as the
councilmen and the engineer. He
said he favored bitulithic paving so
long as they could get it at fair
prices, but that IL q large number Of
the property owners favored accept
ing the, bids for cement paving, he
thought the city council and the city
engineer would be filling their proper
sphere If they listened to the re-
quests Of the property holders who
were to pay the bills.
In free-for-all discussion after
the adjournment of the meeting the
statement was made that when a
former council received bids on the
bitulithic paving and cement paving
some four years ago, little attention
was paid to the bid Of cement con-
tractors and they were almost
sneered at while the bids we're being
read. That matter was answered
with the statement that the council
had taken a trip thru southern Idaho
and as far west as Portland and had
examined all the bitulithic paviag
they wanted to and compared 1t with
cement paving and came back home
and then took trip In company
with a representative Of the cement
interests thru Utah, the home of the
cement industry and making examin-
alton of bitulithic paving and cement
paving and cement roads, until they
were entirely satisfied and came
home with the determination that
they would favor bitulithic paving
as compared with cement. The btu
lithic paving had been permanent
and serviceable while the cement
paving was not satisfactory. That
accounted in some measure for the
impatience Of some members of the
council when long list Of bids for
cement paving was being read and
the council knew that Other Jobs Of
paving that had been laid on such
plans and specifications had not been
lasting nor satisfactory.
Y Two jobs which the council had
made examination OF at that time
were at Pocatello. One, bitulithic
job leading out from the Idaho Tech
had some defects in it but it was adj
mitted that all of the defects were
directly over the sewer line where
the back filling had not been prop
erly done. 1nis has since been done
so that the paving is perfect and mo-
body can see where the patches are.
Other paving in Pocatello laid by
the cement people went to pieces so
badly in three years that they had
to lay new paving on top Of 1t and
the new paving was laid on the btu
lithic plan. That has been In use for
three years and shows no defects.
III AT the same time that Blackfo0t
was receiving bids on its paving four
years ago, Idaho Falls was doing the
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