The Jasper news., 1922-02-16

Bud Bslissss Prospset Look for Muck
improvement

of the Barton County road ques-
ton, but ever since we started or
got into the hurrah over theDublin
kinks and the location ofthe Jeffer-
son Highway the matter has been
in such an indefinite condition that
| didn't feel as though | could en-
tighten any one on the subject ex-
,cept to prophesy, and my prophe-
cies SO often fail | was afraid to
risk anything on that line; but at
this writing the state highway
department at Jefferson City has
advertised for bids for the improve
ment of the II miles OF the .Ieffer-
son Highway, commencing one
fourth mile north of the Barton
Jasper County line and extending
north Il miles, which brings the
improved part to the cross roads
north OF the Blue Starschoolhouse.
This Improvement includes grad
ing, and widening of the culverts
to the goyernmentstandard which
is "a feet in the clear. The road
way also is to be "a feet wide.
The states estimate for culverts
and for grading this road is 50 400.
Our average citizen in this neck of
the woods, and presume it is the
same in all parts OF Missouri,
throws up his hands in horror
when you talk of spending "a 400
for grading and culverts on Ii miles
of road, but this work has got to
come up to a government standard,
and when it is fully understood
the price is not SO far wrong. Take,
for example, the state advertised
for bids and contracted the inn
provement OF II miles OF road here
in Barton County last fall. The
engineers estimate was S45, 900.
There appeared to be lots of idle
contractors and competition was
keen to get this work. There were
% bids received on the work.
The lowest bid was approximately
$4,000, about one-fonrth under
the estimate.
/ put in afew weeks this fall and
winter in Wright County. The
state road contractors there, or a
part of them, had gone broke and
over ia Cedar County the same
thing has happened. The work
must S Ia n d both federal and
state inspection before the con-
tractor gets it off of his hands and
gets his pay. AS to the kinks at
Dublin, when we started to con-
denim and procure the right of way
for the road straight through was
when good many of US last spring
thought the sixty-million bond is
sue had bowed up, and we were
going to issue bonds, procure fed
eral and state aid and build road
OF our own, and in order to get
federal and state aid we had to go
st.aight through Dublin and elimi-
nate the kinks. All road matters
seem to be slow, and as time weny
on and we were batted from post
to pillar with our little project,
and as the saying is, very much
cussed and discussed. 1t finally
became apparent that the big bond
issue hadn't blowed up, SO we final
ly got an agreement with the state
highway Department that they
would spend the 4,400 of state
money grading and putting in cul-
verts and it probably wouldn't be
so very many years till the state
would surface the road, and that
would leave us entirely out of the
expense and we now intend to
withdraw the suit as to the Dub
lin kinks, which don't necessarily
mean that the road will not be
Strengthened as it is practically
certain it will be. There is a little
difference of opinion as to whether
the burden of opening same will be
on the county or state, but it will
be on one or the other.
AS to the talk of building the
Jefferson, Highway south from
Boston and coming into Jasper
from the east or going on to Car
thage on that line is blowed mp.
We lined up our proposition OF
the $,400 here under the old
highway board. The east-route