The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1922-02-10

ance. about ga cents for equip
ment and less than / IA cents for
general administration expense
7 Trunk system construction figures,
compiled by o. l.. Kipp, chief con
struction engineer, total $10,342,594.
20 of expenditures and many accom-
plishments items run into the mil
lions. Construction outfits during
the year moved 1891, 1856 cubic yards
of dirt and gravel. Dumped in huge
container covering an average city
block 800 feet square with perpendic-
ular walls, the yardage would tower
nearly 2,700 feet or more than half a
mile high, the yardage would tower
nearly 200 feet. or more than half a
mile high, Mr.. Kipp added, by way Of
giving an idea of the tremendous vol
ume handled Paving built on trunk
routes in 1921 would cover eighty two
face sixty six 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 make last
ing foundations for highway surfacing
that future traffic may demand, II
cents into gravel surfacing and 26
IL cents into paving an dthe remain
ing 16 IL cents for many miscellan-
euos items. The paving items car
ries an explanation that about 10 per
cent of the trunk highway construct
10 fund was used for paving and that
the 1921 paving mileage was abnorm-
ally high due to the paving added by
counties with reimbursements board
money.
Average mile costs of grading and
travelling run higher on state than on
county work, and this is due, Mr.
Kipp said, to the fact that trunk
routes carry four times as much traf-
fc as the county roads and must be of
heavier construction. That the state
secured the lowest figure on 1921
wor kis shown, however, by paving
contracts averaging $1,000 a mile be-
low the prices paid by counties.
Another tabulation showstrung
highway grading averaging $5,391.27
a mile; gravel surfacing at $3,51O.36
a mile, and paving at $31 968.13 mile
the last item including fine grading.
culverts and all other cost figures.
Bridge Work Advanced
j T. Ellison, chief bridge engineer
in the highway department, announc-
ed that comparatively less bridge
work was done in 1921 than in other
NSSAS ySoAS, OuI ~ hC" pIo-
jects at an average of $11,sS9 each
made an important addition to the
program. The engineer said that
under the old highway laws many
counties out good percentage of
money into bridges with the result
that bridge work gained lead on
other classes of highway improve
ment.
Much other construction work is
listed. To insure public safety on
road curves and fills, 126,150 lineal
feet or about rs miles of guard rail
was built at cost of Sc cents FOOT.
439, 514 lineal feet or nearly SO miles
Of drain tile was laid at ssh cents i
foot average cost. There were also
6O,773 feet of portable culverts, main
ly at farm entrances, costing $1.76 a
foot, and 455 monolithic culverts at on
ofway clearing and grubbing, hand
at an average of $705. 70 each. Right
ditching, special blowing, cutters and
catch basins, retaining walls and min
or items are part OF the new improve
ments listed.
Maintenance Spreads Benefits.
The smoothing and other upBeep OF
6,S55 miles of trunk highways last
season took $2,224,227 of the So. 000, 900
fund get aside for maintenance, ac-
cording to w. F. Rosenwald, chief
maintenance engineer.
Eighty two cents of each mainten-
ance dollar was paid for labor, the
summary shows. Men and teams got
43 cents of the dollar or 1864, 200,
against % cents or 1924, 900 paid
men and trucks. In addition, laborers
took $133,500- cents of each average
dollar. Other items making up the
dollar were about Z cents for graveI
culverts and other materials, about 10
cents for equipment operation and
less than one cent for unclassified
items.
Maintenance and special upkeep
work on the trunk routes averaged
1924. 46 a mile for the season. That
includes wages of patrolmen-one for
each Smile section-the re- shaping
and re surfacing operations which in
some cases ran close to new construc
ton figures, and other like outlags.
Another maintenance dollar distribu
ton shows 441a cents to, patrolmen, %
cents for repairs and q cents for bet
terments, little over ia cents for
special work and cents for overhead
expenses and superintendent of all
kinds from executives of foremen.
Shown in another way, smoothing and
mending during the season cost
s144.7o mile: repairs s90;17 and
betterments $3.50; special work
SIS. 08 and overhead $16.21 cents a
mile.
Miscellaneous Work Listed
Maintenance forces also marked
the trunk routes with the official
numbers on yellow stars, made the
traffic census, kept up the detours
and did much other special work.
Patrolling of 6,S55 miles of trunk
routes included the cutting of brush
along 1892 miles, cleaning of 500
miles of side bitches and raking over
sized stones from 1,651 miles of high
way. In reshaping 1,137 miles of
trunk routes, maintenance, crews NOV
ed 65,846 cubic yards of earth, ex-
cavated 600 yards of solid rock, cut
So miles Of drainage bitches and filled
80 bridge approaches and IL sink
holes. Likewise, re- surfacing of 1856
miles involved the placing of 632,367
cubic yards of gravel, the surfacing of