Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1922-06-06
LOCAL MEN ARE
PARTICULARLY
ASPHALTCHOICE
Will Continue to Protect Prop
erty Owners, How
ever.

Indications that local contractors ac-
customed to bidding upon Trinidad or
Gil asphalt and bituminous concrete do
not intend to let emulsifed asphalt and
Kentucky rock asphalt get foothnd
on the streets of lndianapoiis. without
struggle, are contained in taEuiations
of bids received for the resurfeains Of
Capitol avenue from Sixteenth street to
Fall Creek, completed today in the city
civil engineering department. Indications
also are that property owners, strange to
say, will benefit financially.
Several weeks ago City Civil Engineer
John l.. Elliott proposed to the PARK
board that emulsified asphalt and Ken
lucky rock asphalt be tried out on s"me
pavement under control Of the park de-
part ment because he thought much
cheaper bids could be received upon
these materials than upon so called com
mon asphalt or bttuminous concrete. The
board agreed.
The bids, however, show two local
contractors who are among those Who
regularly bid upon street improvements
in indianapolis, have far underbii on
bituminous concrete those who submit
ted prices on emulSifed and Kentucky
rock asphalt
BY comparison. the figures of the two
who bid bituminous concrete are rar
less than local contractors have been
laying such material. for the board OF
public works. the engineering depart
ment's tabulation shows
Teh Emulsified Asphalt Company s
bid on emulsified asphaltic concrete fig
ures Sl.3o a square yard; the 5 NJ.
Timberlake Company's bid on Kentucky
rock asphalt figures S1.52 a square yard.
while the bid Of the Marion County Con
struction Company on bitumnons con-
crete amounts to only S1.10 square yard.
The Indiana Asphalt Paving Company
bid only a few cents higher than the
| Marion County Construction Company
on bituminous concrete.
No direct comparison OF the low BIZ
luminous concrete resurfacing bid OF the
Marion County Construction Company
on the Capitol avenue improvement with
bids which have been made on the same
class OF work for the board Of public
works, can be made. since no bitumi
nous concrete streets have been resur-
faced by the board Of works this year.
The board of works has let all OF its
resurfaeing jobs on asphalt bids.
The lowest bid on asphalt resurfacina
was So % a square yard In general,
bids on b!tuminons concrete figure ap
proximately 90 cents a square yard less
than asphalt, il is said. So officials in
the engineering department. figuring on
this basis, had not expected the local
contractors 10 bid much less than SIS
a square yard on bituminous concrete.
The difference between this expected
figure OF 81 S. and the hid of Sl.la which
I actually was received is not quite so
great rs appears ON the surface. The
board OF works requires a two-inch top
surface and the park board only one and
one half inches Thus, to fairly compare
tn" bid that was received with that which
had been expected on the basis or pre-
ytous figures 1t is necessary 10 add about
one-third OF the price to the Sl.l0 figure.
This gives an approximate price Of 81 Il
4 square yard for two inch surface on the
basis If the bid on an inch end half
Figuring this engineering department
officials said the Marion County Con-
struction Companys bid Was about -
cents 4 square yard less than they. had
expected on the basis If bids for asphalt
and bitumnous concrete before the board
Of public works.
The contract for the Capitol avenue I'm
provemcnt will be let Thursday after
! uoon.