The mirror., 1922-04-20

county through which the road actually
iuns, Minnesota has today begun work
on what is known as the Babcock Amend
ment, named after Mr.. Babcock, the State
Highway Commissioner of Minnesota,
which will link every county seat within
its borders with a concrete road, permanent
and lasting. This program, as accepted
by vote, will make Minnesota conspicuous
through her highways to complete which
means the expenditure of millions of dol
lars and years of consistent labor. This
network of roads are all Federal Aid Pro-
jects split into hundreds of contracts and
numbered accordingly.
The U. S. is divided into districts and
in each one there is a Federal Commission
whose sole duty it is to plan and put into
operation the construction of highways.
These plans are drawn by them through
the data and information as gathered by
the Geodetic Survey and when such a
piece of road is ready for construction,
these plans are placed in the hands Of the
State Highway Commission, which is COM
posed of four men, The Governor acting
as chairman, two Commissioners appointed
by him, and the State Highway Engineer,
with the necessary notations and estimates,
stating in brief, estimated cost, time to
construct, material to be used, ETC. The
cd oil cho
authority on that contract unless something
accidental and unforeseen occurs; an ex-
ample occurring not many years ago in
South Dakota, where cloudbur,t washed
away some four miles of gravel road
which was still under construction. This
was matter of between eight and ten
thousand dollars added expense to the
State, therefor the State Commission called
in the Federal Commission, who authorized
the work to be done over, much to the
contractors delight-this made-two profits
grow where one grew before, but had
this contract been taken at loss, which is
many times the case, there might have
Deen lOng drawn out controversy
When the State Highway Commission
receives the plans for some piece of road,
they Immediately send out bid blanks to
all contractors OF, their mailing lists an
nouncing when, where, and at what time
all bids will be publicly read, and upon
receipt of cost, will send duplicate plans
to those who want them. Contractors will
tfen if interested either figure from where
they are or proceed to the spot and go
over the road in question. The latter is
by far the better way although contrac-
tor familiar with that section of the coun
try, and if he is experienced may guess
fairly close, but he is guessing and one
bum guess has ruined many of them for
season if not for for all time.
An average roadbed is either twenty-six
or thirty-two foot wide, according to the
territory located 1t must be graded, un
less impossible, to within ten per cent
grade, all grade higher than four feet
protected by guard rail along either side
and all culverts and bridges constructed
of concrete and steel. We can readily
see then what bid consists of in general,
grading, grubbing out trees and stumps,
blasting, burrow pit work, moving fences,
trees and in one instance to my knowledge
barn, stripping or removing sod, digging
and placing culverts and bridges, surfac
ing with gravel, bitulithic, or concrete.
There can be very little guessing if the