The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1921-03-17
Highway Commission Reports
on Work Done Past Year.

highway situation in this State and
copies have been sent to the members of
the Legislature. The statement was nre-
pared for the purpose of correcting anv
erroneous information that might have
reached the ears of the legislators THROUGH
unofficial sources, as we'll as to inform
first-hand the members regarding the
work that has been &C complished bv the
commits sion during the year 1920. IT
covers in complete manner the cues
tions of State highways, State. aid high
ways, third class roads, special resolves,
maintenance and bridges, and also gives
the exact figures in regard to the cost of
the running of the department and also
explains the serious financial situation az
regards maintenance which the State has
been and is facing. The statement fol-
| lows
AUGUSTA, March 3, 1921
Dear Sir:
We are DESTROYS that each member of
the Legislature should have a genera,
idea of the work accomplished by this
Commission during 1920, and to that end
have decided to address this letter to
each Senator and Representative. We
trust you will read carefully what follows
and thereby get comprehensive view of
! VIII at the Commission has Accomplished
and general idea as to the needs of the
Department.
State Highways: During 1920, work was
unde rtaken on 80 sections of State high
way. Ten of these sections were let to
contract The rest were done BY dav
labor. Cut of the 80 sections undertake en-
70 called for gravel surface. The mileage
completed was 4948 The total expendi-
ture for this AMI all other work charge
able to State highways, that is, surveys
plans, hearings, right of way, etc, on
WORK to be undertaken later, was 81 =
BY, l94 H. OF the above jobs Is were
Federal aid jobs and against the work
performed on those Is jobs PRACTICALLY
S4OO, 600 of Federal aid is due the State
State Aid Highways: 435 State aid iobs
were completed from 1920 joint funds and
20 other State aid jobs were comnIeted
IRON Joint funds OF other years, making
total of 464 State aid Jobs Completed
total expenditure of 1857, 267 81.
Third Class Roads: 200 Jobs were done
under the third lass highway act at q
total cost of S!66. 1923 co. OF the above
252 were road construction Jobs, all gray.
ei surfaced, covering 1902 miles. and
eight were road repair Jobs
Special Resolves. Under special re-
solves, 81 miles of road were construct
ed at cost of 500, 59791. Road repair
work was done TO the amount of S22.
6O9. 29; bridge construction amounting tn
81, 9y7.33 and bridge repairs amount
ing to Sl3, 552. 81. Miscellaneous charges
Tor Inspection, for ferries and for claims
amounted to $22, 525.17.
Maintenance: 4241 IL miles of road in
495 towns were maintained by 494 patrol
men. The total expenditure for this
work was S799, $40, 90, OF which the State
furnished So62, 252.74 and the cites and
towns furnished $237, 1926. The aver
agee expenditure per mile was $18I.71.
VI the above gross amount 1874, CAT. 81 was
spent Tor supervision and inspection.
7O9.54 miles OF improved State highway
was maintained at an average expendi-
ture OF S527.37 per mile. The expendi-
ture on the other 353l7 n miles of road
averaged Sl13.06 per mile.
Bridges: During 1920, 81 State and
county aided bridges were constructed
and eight were IN process of construction
at the end of the year. The total expen-
dltule for this work, was $57O,875. 20.
"A summing up of the work under
the direction of the Commission shows
that total expenditures of S4,652, 1872. 40
were made; that the supervision charge
for this work, including all salaries and
expenses OF the Commission, its office
force and all charges for engineering, in
Guiding surveys, plans and computations.
and all inspection and supervision of
construction work and maintenance
work, amounted to 0423 per cent of the
above gross expenditure. In other words,
of every dollar which passed through the
hands of the State Highway Commis-
sion, little less than Ia cents was
paid for salaries and expenses and 95 "a
cents was expended in labor and material
on the highway. Work accomplished in
cludes 230 81 miles of road rebuilt. 20
bridges under construction of which q
were completed, and 424111 miles of
road under maintenance
1t should be noted that a vast majority
OF all jobs of road work were gravel sur
faced. his has been true of all of the
work the Commission has ever done and
it will continue to be true, and it does
not appear that legislation is needed to
cause the States money to be expended
tor gravel roads, and in the judgment of
this Commission it would be very unwise
to limit the expenditure of State and
State aid road money to the construction
of one type of road.
State aid funds available last year were
not sufficient to meet the requests of
towns for State aid by Sl99, $50 90. The
Commission have asked in their budget
estimates for $500, 600 additional State
aid money. 1t seems very desirable that
the State should be able to help the towns
push improved road work along, particu-
laIly when the towns are willing to ap-
propriate their own money for this pur-
pose.
The amount of money available for
maintenance was nearly 100000 too
little to meet the expenditures in 1920
The Commission were allowed to carry
out their program by the promise of the
Governor and Council that funds for the
deficit would be provided from the States
contingent fund, which was done in De-
cember. Further provision for mainte-
nance to the extent of between $4,000 0
and $500, 600 should be maze by this Leg
islature in order to enable the Commits
sion to carry on the maintenance work as
it has been handled during the past five
years. If the Legislature does not pro-
vide funds, we understand that this
work will have to close down when avail
IL I