New Britain herald., 1930-10-21
Public Works Board Will Question
 Other Cities On Gas Station Sites

that of East Main street, eight new duct lines from Main street to Elm street, six from Elm street to Stan |, ley street, and Broad street, from Washington street to Main street and Lee street.
 Permanent pavement construc- ton was confined to amiesite pave ment on Washington street, from West Main street to Lake street and asphalt top on concrete pavement of Lafayette street from Main street to Washington street, and from High street to Grove street.
 Little Snow Last Winter Snow removal for the entire sea- son was negligible, and at no time was it necessary to remove snow with the mechanical loader purchas- ed the previous year. Sanding streets during ice storms, cleaning the gut | ters and crosswalks, blowing out bus | lines and some removal in the busi- ness section, for a total expenditure of s6,59S44, was all the work nec- essary. This expenditure is the low est figure on record since 1924. Unemployment began to make it. self felt during the summer of 1929, and grew steadily worse as winter approached. To relieve this, sewer | work was undertaken on an exten- sive scale. Willow Brook relief cul- vert, Barnesdale trunk line sewer. and many lesser projects, especially storm water sewers, were started to give work for the unemployed. Cold weather, coupled with inexperienced labor resulted in higher construction costs and a large increase in com pensation awards for injuries. The question of compensation insurance was closely investigated, but not ac- cepted by the common council.
 Sewer Survey Ordered
 "The sewage disposal problem was again taken up by the board of pub lie works. and it's report on the con- ditions existing in the system and at the sewer beds, together with the urgent demands by the state water commission and residents of East Berlin, brought into being definite action by the common council. As i the fiscal year ended, it was voted 1 to have made complete survey of the sewage system, sewage disposal and the treatment of trade wastes. Final action in the awarding of the contract to Morris Knowles, engi- neers of Pittsburg, was held up in order to allow the newly elected mayor, His Honor, Mayor Quigley, to study the situation personally. The award was duly made at a later date and work on the survey start ed.
 1 Tn connection with this survey it was found that records, maps. pro- files and other data in the office of the board of public works would be cs great help in the study of the sonable estimate of cost was submit ted by the engineering firm retained by the city.
 Sewer construction during the year amounted to 9.29 miles of sew CTS in all, of which 3.S1 miles are sanitary and 5.4S miles are storm water sewers.
 Sewers Changed Over During the year an accurate checkup. including a card record, was made of over 75 per cent of all storm water house connections, and more than 100 were found to empty into the sanitary sewer. Orders were issued for Q change over to the storm sewer, and in several cases it was found that no storm water facilities were available. A com- plete checkup of these connections is urged as means of aiding in the final analysis of the sewage disposal problem.
 Catch basin construction kept gram carried out. A record number of basins were constructed, 103 in all.
 ''The all important work of clean ing catch basins was carried on throughout the working season with gratifying results. 2,07S basins were cleaned, the average cost being S2.37. which is identical with last years cost and shows definitely that this approaches the minimum cost per basin cleaned. A comparison with reports of other cities where similar work is carried on shows New Brit aims unit cost per basin cleaned to be lower than the average.
 Street Oiling Costs
 "Oilng streets, an accepted meth cd throughout the country for dust prevention and increasing the life of macadam pavements as well as some gravel roads, again showed a de- crease in total cost over last year. The total cost for the year was $l7,- 033.49 against $19,507.12 for the preceding year, a saving of $2,47S.- 63 More attention to outlying sec tions was made possible by the ex- tensive bituminous macadam laid which does not require oiling for at least five years.
 Amount expended:
 36,OO0 gal. 46 p. c. As
 phaltic Oil at ,0S.,.....S 2SSO.0C S7,O00 gal 65 ?. c. As phaltic Oil at .O9 ..... S,03O.0C 123, GOO gal. 45 p. c. and G5 ?. c. .............. 10,91O.OC Sand .............,.. 1,675,05 } Labor .........,..... 4,44S.44 S17,033.4G Tt was observed that the 65 per cent asphaltic oil has far greater binding qualities, and as this quality was more essential than that ot mere dust prevention, and the differ ence in cost per gallon being only one cent greater. the latter was used to far greater extent.
 Menacing Trees Removed "The work of caring for trees was } again handled by contract to Henry