The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-01-12
C0NNERY BILL WOULD GIVE CASH TO VETS
STATE HIGHWAY
 DEPARTMENT WORK
Large Share of l93O Oper- atiOns Devoted to Pave
 ment on Trunk Lines
TOTALED OVER I65 MILES

Highway construction ana recon struction work completed by the Connecticut highway department during the year of 1890 totaled 165h miles, according to a state ment by missioner John A. Mac donald to-day, which was in the nature of an informal review of the past years operations. The figure. he said. was an increase of twenty five miles over the road building work accomplished in 1929.
 In addition to the completion of the above named total, the highway department carried over into the new year about sixty-five miles of work, the contracts for which were awarded during the year. Much of this work from the public viewpoint at least is finished and in use al- though the department does not re- cognize it as completed since there remain some finishing details such as shoulder building, rail construc- tion and the like. The mileage work carried into 1891 does not include the thirty miles of paving and grad ing involved in the contract letting of January for which the depart ment received the largest number of bids in it's history.
 The larger part of the years work was devoted to the reconstruction of pavements on the trunk line system, the states network of primary roads which bear the heavier traffic. About eighty-two miles of trunk line high way were paved during the year.
 Work on the secondary state aid highways was by no means slack encd, however, for approximately seventy miles of town road were constructed, operations proceeding at an even more rapid pace than in 1929. About thirteen miles of high way were constructed jointly as trunk line and state aid work.
 Besides it's road building projects the highway department during 1930 completed the construction of twelve new bridges. Among the completed bridge contracts were two of the three covering the construc- tilon of the new large span over the Housatonic river at Lime Rock and the Pennington river at Avon. The new cutoff which carries the Bos- ton Post Road over the railroad tracks at Southport, although prac- tically complete and open for traffic, still requires a few finishing touches before formal contract acceptance.
 Among the years more important paving jobs both from the stand point of traffic and of size were the completion of the long Broad street cutoff which carries New Haven Hartford traffic through Meriden by more direct route than formerly; the paving of Route 114 through Brooklyn and Pomfret the Steven son dam road which follows the Housatonic from Derby to Sandy Hook: the paving of the New Mil ford-Cornwall road through Warren and Washington: the Johnathan Trumbull highway reconstruction of eight miles through Andover. Co., lumbia and Lebanon, the longest paving project of the year; the Wa tertown- Woodbury project on Route 339 and the completion of paving on the Rocky Hill cutoff in Weth- ersfield on the Hartford -Middletown highway.
 In addition to it's paving and bridge construction. the highway department increased it's activities along several lines, especially in the matter of highway Identification. The department landscape divi- sion set out along the roads the largest number of new trees it has planted since its organization in 1926. A large number of roadside gardens, picnic and parking spots were built. many bare slopes were planted and rocky slopes hidden with vines, and the work of tree pruning to open up new views was continued at a more rapid pace than in any previous year. Protection and cultivation of roadside trees, snow re- moval and experimental and testing work with highway materials were pursued along the customary lines as part of the departments routine.
 One of the new features of the departments work in 1890 was the building of sixty-seven miles of wire rope guide rail along sections of road where it would prove especially dangerous if motorist ran off the highway. The new cable rail is much stronger than the former wood fence since it's resistance to impact is spread throughout the structure. It will be used exclusively in dan gerous locations in the future.