The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1922-02-08
ROADSRECORDS FEATURE
STATE HIGHWAY, SYSTEM
Continued From Page ~

SlAlE nlOllWAl Dl0lEW
Continued From Page ~ N3S
enue, Ss,s4O,O00 of federal highway
aid and S4,1OO,7O8.19 of. proceeds
from county reimbursement bond
sales, w. r%,...> r / 's~%,Gs ~ -,
The remaining Sc, 764, 416.01 used
under the direction of the state nigh
way department was part of the fund
| Of S21,O99,232 provided last year.for
local roads-other than trunk~high-
ways. 49, The Large sum for county
town road work was made up, accord.
ling tosthe: state auditors :abstract,.afE
is10,84s,6s2 OF faupty, Sc ,s62 SS0 +. Ct
township and ST ,3QS z ga ;ofe Small city
and village road and Bridge funds
and of. $2,0S4,287 of state aid. With
more than twicei as much money pros
tvided for localTroads purposes as for
trunk route betterment, Commissions
err Babcock is moving to insure maxi
mum benefits from expenditures on
the secondary as well as the primary
! highways. s|,.~E >-.
- Graphs Divide Dollars.
Graphs showing from, where the
average good roads dollar came and
how it was USED are another feature
of the review. One graph shows that
the average roads dollar is made up
of GO cents Of road and bridge tax
funds, used on local roads, and II
cents of motor vehicle taxes, 8 cents
of federal aid and IL cents of coun-
tty reimbursement bond money-the
three trunk fund sources of revenue.
Another picture how SO cent sof, the
average trunk dollar went for new
construction, 80 cents for mainte-
nance, about 6 y cents for equipment
and less than / n cents for general
administration expense. - ~. =.
, Trunk system construction figures,
compiled by 0. L. Kipp, chief con-
struction engineer, total $1O,342,-
594.26 of expenditures and many &C.
complishment items run into the mil
lions. Construction outfits during the
year moved 1891 1886 cubic yards of
dirt and gravel. Dumped in a huge
container covering; an average city
block 800 feet square with prependic-
ular walls, the yardage would tower
nearly 1900 feet or more than half
mile high, Mr.. Kipp added, by way
OF giving an idea of the tremendous
volume handled. Paving built on
trunk routes in 1921 would cover 80
city blocks, each 800 feet square,
or surface 66-foot city street more
than 100 blocks in length. :,
Main Work Permanent. :.
Of the average dollar used for new
construction on trunk routes, Mr.
Kipp's report discloses, 40 cents went
into permanent grades to make4last.
ing foundations for highway surfac.
ing that future traffic may demand
II cents into gravel 2surfacing ane
26 k cents into paving and the re
naming 1871 cents for many miscel
laneous items. The paving item car
ries an explanation that. about Is
per cent of the trunk highway con
struction fund was used for paving
and that the 1921 paving mileage wa!
abnormally high due to the paving
added by, counties with reimburse
- ment bond money. e.. !
Average mile costs of grading ant
crawling run higher on state than 81
county work, and this is due, Mr.. Kip]
said, to the fact that trunk routes car
ry four times as much traffic as tn
county roads and must be Of heavie
construction. That the state depart
ment secured the lowest figures
10 1921 work is shown, however, by paw
ing contracts averaging $1,000 mil
below the prices paid by counties.
Another tabulation shows trun]
highway grading averaging $5,39ls2
mile; gravel surfacing at $3.50,
SO mile, and paving at $31. 968.13
mile, the last item including fine grad
ing, culverts and all other cost fig
ures. ...
Bridge Work Advanced.
j. T. Ellison, chief bridge enginee
in the highway department, announc
ed that comparatively less bridg
work was done in 1921 than in othe
recent years, but SIS new bridge pro
jects at an average of $11,9S9 eac
made an important addition to tn
program. The engineer said THAT un
Cder the old highway laws many coun
! ties out good percentage of none
into bridges with the result tina
bridge work gained lead on othe
classes of highway improvement:
Much other construction work
listed. To insure public safety o
road curves and fills, l26,15O lines
: feet or; about rs miles of guard ra
was built at cost of 66 cents a; foot
, To keep the grades drained and dry
> 459,514 lineal feet or nearly 80 mile
, of drain tile was laid at SIS u cent
. q foot average cost. There were ais
, 6O.773 feet Of portable culverts MAR
llv at farm entrances. costing 81 z
, a foot, and ass monolithic culverts q
=. Ian average of $7O5.73 each. Right
l. of-way clearing and grubbing, hane
81 ditching, special blowing, cutters an
: catch basins, retaining walls an
E minor items are part Of the new IN
provements listed. H. ...-j u
1 Maintenance Spreads Benefits.
q The smoothing and other upkee
1 of $685. miles of trunk highway
n last season took $2,224,227 Of tt
M 4 Il = E<<s ySNf.