The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-06-03
CONCRETE REDUCES ROAD COSTS

I the more efficient expenditure of the state highway funds and more intelli- gent system of highway administration,
 criticized the high cost of highway paw | ing being laid by the state, and de- ' manded a competitive opportunity for concrete, reply was made by those con 1 nected with the highway department that construction of concrete highways would bankrupt the state. At one time Chair ] man Rogers alleged that such highways would cost from forty to fifty thousand
 dollars a mile. Later he modified this to $37,5oo mile, which was the high est, not the lowest the state had paid for concrete paving up to that date. The amount actually was S37,295 per mile. In his statement on that occasion MT. Rogers made no reference to the con- crete paving in Mobile county which cost little less than $35,0o0 mile i; $34,872, to be exact.
 These stretches, All and 4.66 miles, respectively, were so short, however, and so isolated, as to make the price per mile higher, owing to the fact that the general overhead had to be concentrated on few miles instead of being distrib- uted over many miles. The proof of this is seen in the bids for seventeen and half miles in Chiffon county, which, in competition with black top, recently was let to concrete for little more than $31, TOO per mile. If the entire mileage through Chiffon county had been let at one time and in one contract it is more than probable that this price per mile would have been materially less. As the contracts for concrete increase, the con- fidence of bidders grows in the prospect of future business, and the price stead fly declines. Evidence of this is shown in the most recent contract let for con- crete, namely, the first section of the Old Spanish Trail connecting the con crete road ending at the Mississippi line with Grand Bay, Mobile county, Ala bama. Although this section is only 3.8 miles in length, yet it is understood to be the first link of total of not less than seventeen miles and possibly of thirty, if the Trail paving is continued to Mobile. The price per mile of con- crete paving on this section is $29,725, exclusive of bridge, the cost of which of miles.
 The lesson that is to be drawn from this is that giving to concrete an oppor- tunity to compete with the bituminous concrete and bithulithic bituminous con- crete types, which are commonly asphal- tic products on a macadam or crushed rock foundation, has promptly brought down the cost of paving in Alabama from the level that prevailed when the black-top types had an apparent monop- oily. Comparing the cost of the black top, crushed-rock road in Shelby county with the concrete road that forms its continuation in the adjoining county of Chiffon, we find that the Shelby county road, exclusive of bridges, costs the state SAC, O,391.60 per mile, while the concrete continuation in Chiffon county is cost ing $31,700 mile, difference of eight or nine thousand dollars a mile. The total estimated average cost of bitumi- nous concrete roads, as given by the state highway engineer, is $32,S50. per mile. But many such pavements have cost much more than that because of the lack of competition. It is believed that, with the full competitive oppor- tunity given to all types of. paving, the cost per mile in counties that present no serious bridge or engineering diff culties will be reduced to little more than twenty-five thousand dollars per mile. There is to be considered also, in esti- mating the cost of paving, that some types cost more for upkeep than others.
 Already it is seen how potent com petition is to bring down the cost of highways. In the future, whether the paving be of concrete, of bithminous macadam, or of other types roughly classed as high type" paving, if the highway commission pursues the policy of making the specifications competitive the result will be less costly highways for this state. Far from being a deliv- cry to the "cement trust" as alleged by Chairman Rogers, the opportunity given to concrete has delivered the people of this state from pavings that were cost ing far more than they should. Instead of reducing the mileage this state may enjoy, the introduction of concrete into the competitive field has increased the potential paved mileage this state may expect.
 This week the entire highway commits sion has gone to witness the highway demonstration in North Carolina. This visit of inspection indicates that the board is more. willing to learn about highways, and from that the people of this state take due encouragement, hop ing that the information thus gained will be minted into highway benefit to Ala