The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1921-03-18
tlTRAVAeAAf tO NtFACENCT
sTdt HIGHWAY COMMISSION
POWDER RIVER COUNTY WOULD have LOST THOUSANDS
of DMllnS u eellDlNe 6IATE ROAD LAST YEAR,.
ARaullLlIs AGAINST PERMANENT ROAD coNs1RGc.
TON UODER STATE SUPERVISION

Following is the text Of repor
TO the Montana legislature by tn.
joint committee appointed to inves
tigate the highway commission an:
Is herewith reprinted by the Exam;
ner Tor the information of people il
Powder River county:
Taking into consideration, first the
one most vitality interested, namely
the taxpayers, the report starts:
/ Have gotten but little considera.
tion during the past year under the
highway building program, put un-
der way by the highway commis-
sion, in conjunction with the federal
bureau of public roads. The vari-
GUS counties in which bonds were
fvoted upon and money made Gvaila-
BILE for highway construction, have
experienced the inefficiency of an
unweildly engineering crew, turned
loose upon the projects proposed for
construction.
Specifications OF projects were
submitted to the various county
commissioners by the highway engi-
neers, contracts were let, construc-
tion was put under way, only to find
great variation in yardage of com
mon dirt work, and thus causing no
small increase in costs.
THE committee feels. that I'M view
of the large crew of high powered
engineers mployd, mistakes such as
these are inexcusable. and in view Of
the free reign givn the xcutive COM
mittee to hire the best engineering
ability obtainable, it Is only fair to
expect that the taxpayers of this
state are entitled to square deal.
Local county engineers and coun-
ty commissioners, who were famil-
lar with the, respective local coadi-
ttons, were entirely ignored; changes
were demanded after construction
was under way: specifications which
had been passed upon by the respec.
tive county commissioners were de.
Waited from, thus causing unforeseen
delays, and expense, and by the en-
gineers firmly insisting upon changes
and with the threat that federal aid
would be withdraw, the county conf
missioners We're given the choice of
either granting the change or stand
ing the entire expense of the COM
pletion of the project under con-
struction.
Contracts were drawn between
the highway commission and con-
tractors, on basis OF iifty-fifty. The
county commissioners We're required
to pay over to the highway commits
sion their half Of the cost of the es-
innate of a project before work
could be started, thus giving the
highway commission funds enough to
go ahead on a project, to complete
so per cent of the work. Ii the
yardage or the classification Of the
yardage ran over the estimated price,
the county commissioners were
charged with the amount, and We're
required to stand the charge as ex-
ira expense against the project, with
out the ususl fifty-tifty basis being
considered, thus having the expense
Of engineering inefficiency charged
against the respective county road
funds and causing the taxpayers eS-
peses that had not been bargainea
for.
Thus, it is clearly evident that the
working mechanism under the pres
ent law, between the highway COM
mission and the contractors. has
proven unsatisfactory to the several
counties which have taken advant-
age of federal aid.
Another criticism the committee
has found is that most of this COM
plete engineering force was retained
during the winter months. with the
explanation from tn chief engiseer
that plans and specifications were
under preparation for the next two
years, and we feel, sisce several pro-
jects had to be abandoned On ac-
count of the inability OF the coun-
ties to furnish funds, the unfavorable
bosd conditions, the high cost of Ia
Dor and material, etc., that the high
way commission showed lack Of
business acumen in forging ahead
without considering the taxpayers of
the state.
What the taxpayers want to know
is, viz: What is the overhead ex-
pesse of the highway commission:
What is the highway commission
costing the state: How many miles
Of road have been built? Is fedora.
aid q benefit to the highway pro-
gram? Is the present plan of q
highway commission success? Are
the taxpayers getting efficient esgi-
neering through the highway coii-
mision?
= with the above questions in
mind. and taking n posoral survex, of