The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1921-02-12
RESUMPTION OF
ROAD BUILDING
State Highway Commission Max
ing Contracts as Result of De-
cline in Prices

Columbia. Feb. S-That conditions
are excellent for speeding up" in
highway building and other public
construction, is the opinion held by
South Carolina highway officials, and
}. Chas. II. Mooreheld. chief engi-
necr Of the state highway depart
mcnt, stated today that the highway
commission was finding it advan-
tage0uS to place contracts now Build
ing costs are lower than they were
some months ago, and in an effort to
help steady economic conditions and
also to get advantage of lower costs,
the department is letting contracts for
road work as fast as approved
The highway department has had
| inquiries from many other states re-
garding building 81 i.uation. Mr..
| Moorefield states that the department
finds that labor costs are considerably
! lower than year ago. Prices for
steel are also far below prices a year
ago, and as a result the highway COM
mission is finding it advantageous to
| let bridge contracts a. present. Prices
| on cement have not come down as
much as other prices, and so the
| highway authorities are holding off
| on concrete work.
There is a considerable. amount of
lbuilding under way now throughout
the country and it is expected to in
crease. Contractors and engineers ex-
pect to see a large amount Of con-
structiOn this spring.
The highwaE department has OPEN
ed bids for the construction of the
road from WalterbOrO to Jackson
boro. i'm Colleton county, distance of
about 10 miles. The lowest bid was
submitted by j. G.. Fairey. of Orange
| burg, $4,000 for the bridges and
$4,000 for road work. This was
about fifteen thousand dollars lower
Ian the lowest bid received on the
anne job January 2Gth. all Of which
At that time were rejected.
Contract will be let for the con-
struction of 8 miles Of road from
Camden to the Lee county line, the
bridges to Austin Brothers Bridge
Co., for $4.247. the road work to
Stewart Jones Co., for s45, 1000.
The highway department will ad-
vertise this week for bids on the con-
| oti ut -iOii VI tIlc DTluSc ONeI the wa
teree River, between Sumter and
Richland counties The span will
cost approximately 100000. The
approaches to the bridge are to be
bnilt by public subscriptions.
On the 18th of February the high
way department will open bids for the
construction of the Sand Bar Ferry
bridge between Aiken county and
Augusta. Ga. this span to cost a quar-
ter of million.
| The department will also advertise
during the coming week for bids for
the sand clay construction Of the
road from Ballentine, in Richland
county, TO Chaplin, on the road &c
Newbery, and also for the construc-
ton of section of highway nea. the
cludes the building of a new road 10
Broad river bridge. This project in
lclude sthe building of a new road to
the top Of the hill on the west si1o
or the river. and also Il road "fll' on
the Columbia side of the river, lead
ing to the railroad crossing.
| The highway department is adver-
Using for the cOnstructinn of 5 miles
OF road in Berkeley county, from
Monck's Corner to Goose Creek, to
cos. approximately $4,000.