South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1921-10-10
White Construction Company Agrees
After Long Controversy, to Improve
Mishawaka Rd., Eddy ST., Free to City

work and knead the surface, which
operation is helpful 10 the pave
ment, preventing its becoming hard
and subject 70 cracking and disinte-
grafton. This discussion leads 20 a
physical condition, 10 which we feel
you will pardon our calling your at
tention.
Form of Approach.
"Mishawaka av. and Eddy st are
subject 10 unusually heavy traffic.
a double-track car line occupies a
major portion Of the center Of the
street. on either side Of the car line
there is approximately 10 feet OF
wearing surface which for the good
Of pavement should be utilized by
the travelling public The engineer
ing design Of the street, however.
calls for sidewalk approaches in the
nature Of ramps This form OF ap-
prOaCh is very convenient TO the
walking public. The effect Of these
ramps at all street intersections is
TO divert all traffic to a space ap-
proximately eight feet wide between
the car track and the lower point
Of the ramp, In other words, auto
mobile and truck traffic naturally
avoids running over the high spots
occasioned by the sidewalk ap-
proaches and follows ina beaten
path, so that you have one eight
foot strip carrying all the traffic in
either direction and approximately
eight feet Of pavement scarcely
used. We feel it is a matter of i'm
portance for your board to consider
in the matter Of future street i'm
provements whether or not ii is de-
sirable TO force the traffic in the
street TO the immediate center in
this manner, and this is particularly
tru on streets carrying car tracks,
and as a matter Of good construc-
ton, with any narrow street such as
we have described, which should be
able to carry the traffic permitted
to be used on the principal thor
oughfares. In our discussion recent
ly we quoted you a number Of au-
thorities to the effect that a guar
antee such as we have given on this
work was held not to cover the i'm
possible. and in which such guar
antee shall be construed to carry
defects due TO defective workman
ship or bad material. 1t IS our con-
tention that the materials used in
this work were of the best, as is evil
denced by the tests made at the
time the work was in urogress, and
that the workmanship was properly
accomplished. We further contend
that the unfortunate condition Of
the street is due TO the degree Of
penetration required by the city's
agents, and that under the degree
o penetration required a permanent
pavement could not result, in view
of the amount Of traffic on the street
and the manner in which it was
forced into rather narrow lanes by
the intersection above mentioned.
Hold Biggest Record
/ Notwithstanding our firm belief
that we are not legally liable far
the present condition of the street,
and we are not bound under our
/ guarantee 10 make repairs necessary
\ for the reasons above given, we re-
affirm the attitude taken by our Mr..
NJ. Z. White in his conference with
the. board some months ago, that
/ for the purpose Of putting this street
/ in good condition we are wiling to
go beyond our legal ability and TO
complete the repairs which we dis
cussed with you during inspection
this week. The White Construction
company lays annually more square
yards Of asphalt pavement than any
other construction company in the
United States. They operate in prac-
tically every climate in this coun-
try. We have in our business a val
liable reputation OF which we are
very proud and very jealous. We
regret very much the condition that
has occasioned so much criticism in
South Bend. More as insurance of
good faith and good Will we propose
to incur whatever expense is nee
essary to make the renewals and re-
pairs which we discussed with your
4 engineer and your board, and we in
tend Immediately to proceed to do
such work, with this reservation,
however: That the making of the
repairs we have in mind shall be
without prejudice to our legal rights
under the contract and specifications
and without prejudice to our right
TO question any liability which the
city might attempt TO fasten upon
us for repairs due TO requirements
enforced by the city, which In our
judgment resulted in wearing sur
face insufficient 70 give perman
ent wearing surface at the time
mentioned in the guarantee and IN
der the traffic permitted upon the
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