Great Falls tribune., 1921-12-05

Helena. Dec. 4.-Road construc.
tion in Montana for the past II
months has exceeded in value by
considerable amount the construction
in any similar period in the life Of
the state highway commission, accord.
ing to the October report Of the or.
ganization just made public. The re.
port indicates that practically 46(
miles Of road are now under con
struction and that construction has
been completed on 270 miles.
The actual value Of construction
So s8o. .95s.71 since Dec. i, 1920, ap.
proaches within $500, 900 the value oi
construction for the years 1919 and
1920, and brings the total value OF
road construction in the state under
highway commission supervision to
slightly over six million dollars. OF
this amount approximately half has
been borne by the federal govern
ment, the other half being supplied
by the various counties in which the
work was performed. Projects now
under construction contract will bring
the total construction up to $7,t0O,OOO
when complete.
Mostly Gravel Type
Practically 65 per cent Of the road
construction in the state, both COM
plete and under construction contract,
is of the gravel surface type. The
abundance Of suitable gravel surfac-
ing material, the comparative cheap
ness of this type Of construction and
the satisfactory results obtained have
led the commission to specialize in this
kind OF surface. All gravel is re-
quired to be of such size as will pass
one and one-quarter inch ring. In
the southeastern part of the state
large deposits Of scoria exist and this
has been used for surfacing ON several
projects with highly satisfactory re-
suits.
Seventy miles of earth roads have
been completed and 14S miles are now
under contract. A part of these earth
roads may later be grayeled If the
counties are able to finance their
share Of the cost.
Only about per cent of the road
construction under the state highway
commission has been Of paved sur
faces and the majority of this has
been of single course concrete pave
ment 1S feet wide with thickness
of eight inches in the center.
1892 Miles Surveyed
The October report shows that
1852 miles of surveys have been made
and that LILO miles of plans have
been completed. A survey of 80 miles
of mountain road is now being COM
pleted. Contracts on projects are be-
ing let as rapidly as possible. A
force of 16 men is now employed in
the commission offices in Helena
drafting plans.
Since Dec. /, 1920, contracts have
been let on 43 miles of graded read,
76 miles Of gravel road and six and
one-half miles of pavement, total OF
approximately 12G miles. These
projects represent a cost complete of
81 ,347, ,5734S. A large part Of the
1921 construction to date has been on
projects contracted In 1920 and un-
finished during that year.
The drop in prices brought favor
able bids on all projects let in 1921.
Earthwork. the report states, is be-
ing done for as low as % cents per
cubic yard and the low price on rock
during the year was 81 cents per cubic
ward. Concrete in headwalls has
varied from $40 to $50 per cubic yard
and concrete of higher class, used in
box culverts, is being placed from 81
to S33 per cubic ya.S The prices on
gravel surfacing have varied from
S1.9O to 1926 per cubic yard in place,
which price includes hauling, spread
ing, rolling and finishing.
Two Mountain Projects
Two large mountain projects have
been placed under contract during the