Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1921-02-19

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good many to be excessive grading.
This runs into money very fast. Dur
ing the last two or three years costs
of grading have run as high as from
s1.75 to $500 per cubic yard. In 1914
and 1915 these costs were SIS and
SEQ.
II might say to you that we have
had as much as 5000 yards of fill in
as short length of road as 500 feet
on some jobs we have done and we
are constantly urged by the public to
make high fills between hills and to
reduce grades.
"One other item which adds ma
terially to the cost of some miles of
road is the question of wood guard
rails. Automobiles in particular
seem to like to have guard rails put
up and ask us a great many times to
put up more because the rails serve
as guide on dark nights. Guard
rail used to cost $.25 to $.35. 1t now
costs anywhere from SIS to $1.00 per
running foot and on some miles of
road we will have half mile of
guard rail in a place. This, of course,
adds $4,000 to the cost of your mile of
road right off. In some places we
have a continuous stretch of guard
rail for 1000 feet, the cost of which
has to be added to the cost Of the
milo of road.
mind a Portland cement concrete
road is about the most expensive type
of road surface that can be built. By
looking at the costs per mile in the
attached table you will see that in
! 1915 we built 7.56 miles of concrete
road at an average cost per mile Of
11,S29.S2, while in 1914 we rebuilt 81
miles of bituminous macadam road
at an average cost of $16,064.47. The
table also shows that in 1916 the
average cost of 4.59 miles of btu
minous macadam was $17,02S.01, as
against an average cost Of $14,162.93
per mile for 4.24 miles of concrete
built the same year. These two COM
PARSONS are made on practically the
same labor and material market and
go to show that it is not the type of
+; road which determines the cost but
such factors az length of haul for
materials, which have tried to point
out above. 1t is undoubtedly a fact
that on certain locations in Maine it
would cost more to build plain
gravel road than to build either a
water bound macadam or a btu
minous macadam road.
You have asked about govern
ment participation in the cost of Fed
eral aid roads. While the Federal
aid law states that the government
shall pay not to exceed so per centum
of the total estimated cost of any
project, it has been the experience in
Maine that the actual amount paid
by the government on projects under
way has varied from 3S per cent. to
46 per cent. 1t would not be possible
; in brief statement to explain to
you the method Of computing the
amount of Federal aid payable on any
project which is used by the govern
ment. We have the demonstration
here at the Office and it covers about
three typewriter pages. We have
gone on the basis that there is so
much Federal aid coming to Maine
! and if we get 35 or 40 per cent on
one project, it simply means addi-
tional money to be allotted later to
'another project. In the end we are
bound to get all the Federal aid
which the government has appor-
toned to the State.
referring to your statement that
1t is popularity understood that the
Falmouth Cumberland road, So
called, is costing the State $4,000 per
mile, | beg to give you the following
figures which show the exact Status
of cost and the division of the same
between the Federal government and
the State. Our total estimated cost
of this project is $357.65240 Federal
aid has been approved by the secre-
tary of agriculture on this project to
the amount of 1852. 14S.13. leaving the
cost of this project for the State to
bear of S205,5o4.27 This road is 1924
miles long. This makes the net cost
to the State of Maine $2S,3S4.00 per
mile.
The outlook for. 1921 is certainly
more promising than for any seasons
work during the last four years.
Labor is more plentiful. although not
nearly as free as in 1914, and natur
ally we shall expect a reduction in
the cost of common labor of from 10
to 20 per cent. Material prices are
also receding.