The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1932-12-30
2,4o6 MILES
NOW paved
Babcock Also Reports 2,459
Miles of State Highway
Oiled or Tarred.

An increase of 534 miles of pavement
and SGT miles of Unanimous surface in
the past year, is shown in the annual
inventory or report on the status of
improvement of the trunk highway
system, made public this week by G.
M. Babcock, commissioner of highways.
The total mileage in the system has
been decreased by 90, and due to the
increase in paved and bituIninous sur
facing, there is decrease in the un-
treated gravel mileage. The mileage of
each type of highway now and one year
ago is as follows:
1881 1892
Pavement, .1,87250 2,406.53
Bituminous treated, ..1,872.10 2,459.67
Gravel. standard grade, 1,349.80 1864
Earth, standard grade, 57.40 46.40
Gravel, subStandard
Grade, ............. 1,62050 893.15
Earth or Sand-clay,
substandard grade, :. 5000 $3.50
Totals, .6,863.20 6,771.59
The figures for each year show the
condition of the trunk highway system
on Nov. /. Grading and crawling pro-
jects not then completed are not shown
in the report, but where the new road
is on new location and not completed,
the old road was used in making the
report. When grading projects now
under way are completed, the system
will be 80 miles shorter than shown in
the report, or a net mileage of 6,739.
Approximately 100 miles of grading are
under construction or completed since
Nov. l. No paving is built in the winter
months, but 81 miles are uncompleted
on contracts let late last summer with
special federal aid, and will be built as
soon as weather permits in the spring.
Due to the stage construction plan,
earth to gravel, gravel to bituminous,
bituminouS to pavement, the latter is
the only type where inventory gains
equal the years construction. A total
of 862 miles were given new bituminous
treatment in 1882, but several sections
which had been treated in previous
years were either paved or turned back
to the counties, so the net gain in
bituminous mileage is only 587. The
investment in oil and tar is not lost,
the department states, because under
the methods in vogue in Minnesota, BIZ
luminous treatment usually costs no
more than maintaining untreated gravel
under the same traffic conditions.
The total amount of bonds out
standing against the trunk highway
fund at the end of 1892 is $42, 1888, 1852.
OF these s13,838,762 are county reim-
bursement bonds and $29,000,000 state
bonds issued under the refunding act
of 1929 and the bond act of 1881.
The last of the bonds will be paid in
1913, Mr. Babcock said. The bonds are
serial bonds, so that it is not necessary
to set aside sinking fund to meet the
payments Payments of interest and
principal will average $3,677, $50 per
year, and maturities are evenly dis
tributed, so payments will work no
hardship on trunk highway budgets,
and there is no danger that they will
ever require general tax levy.
'"The savings through bargain prices
on contracts, cement, and other ma
terials in the last two years and the
saving in maintenance effected by paw
ing and other permanent improvements,
will pay all the interest on the bonds,
and the saving to road users through
distance reductions and high type, III
year highways, will be a clear gair
which will run into many millions"