The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1933-01-11
SAYS 1882 MARKED
EXTENSIVE PROGRAM
OF WORK ON ROADS
M'Kinnon Gives Highway Fig.
ures in Address to County
Commissioners

Line year 1857 marked tine most ex.
tensive construction program In the
history Of the state" with savings Of
$186,048 in maintenance and from SO
to $l,166 per mile In various types
Of road construction, Chief Highway
Commissioner A. D. McKinnon told
the state convention Of county com.
missioners here Wednesday.
He said the highway department
also had saved the state $l7o. S2l ~
by rejecting one group Of bids and
waiting month before letting the
contracts on new bids.
Commissioner McKinnon reported
that the cash disbursements for all
items covered by the legislative bud
get totaled $3.50, 1885 in 1891 and In
1882 the expenditures amounted to
$194,566, a saving of $55, $40 for the
year-"this in spite Of the fact that
the program under construction dur
ing the last year was the largest ever
undertaken in the history OF the
state highway department"
He defended the commission'a
awarding Of some contracts to out
of-state contractors, saying the
board had been "unjustly criticized"
I'm this connection" he added.
permit me to call your attention to
the fact that where federal aid Is
used in the construction Of high
ways, 1t is impossible to discriminate
against out-of- state contractors as
all contracts must be awarded to the
lowest responsible bidder regardless
of residence"
Reviews Federal Act
McKinnon reviewed the federal
emergency relief and construction
act of 1882 which enabled North Da-
kota to receive $1,933,90 for road
construction work to be completed by
July /, 1888, but recommended that
the convention urge congress to ex-
tend the time limit to August /.
The demands for various types Of
highway improvement work exceeded
the ability to finance them, McIkin-
non informed the county commits
sionerS.
I'VE have on file requests for 96d
miles of grading. 40 miles Of gravel
surfacing, and "a miles OF oil-mix
surfacing which have not been placed
under contract, or total OF all i'm
provements of /, 439 miles. Surveys
have not been made for 260 miles Of
earth grading which has been re-
quested."
He said the highway department
made a special effort last year to
close the gap between the earth
graded roads and the surfaced roads
land in this we were aided by the
emergency federal aid appropriation. y
Referring to the savings in main
tenance, he pointed out that costs
had been reduced to an average Of
$204.43 mile as compared to the
average of s237O7 for the previous
year. or reduction of $32.64 per mile
for $500 miles. The total saving, he
said, was $l86O48.
Commissioner McKinnon said the
highway department expected to
maintain about 500 more miles Of
highway in 1888 with the same bud
set as allowed d 1892.
The only construction cost in which
the highway department could not
show decrease, he said, was In con-
crete paving. He attributed this in
crease to the federal stipulation Of q
minimum wage of 40 cents per hour
and the maximum of 30 hours pei
week that any one laborer could
work.
I'm all types Of highway improve.
ments the special emergency stipula-
ton just mentioned" he said, caused
an increase Of from "a to "a per cent
in the cost per mile Of the improve
ment. However, the increase In the
cost of paving was approximately Il
per cent"
He pointed out that grading cul-
verts and small structure projects de-
clined in cost $509.30 per mile. Re-
grading culverts, and small structure
work dropped $l,l66.6s per mile
Crawling, including cost Of gravel
declined $217.57 per mile and re-
crawling was down $209.2l per mile
Stock pile costs on per mile basis
were cut $1O8l, while oil subgrade
was lowered $312.04 and oil mix, in.
Guiding extra gravel. was reduced
$1,C95.l8 per mile.
Calling attention to the saving ef-
fected by rejecting bids and letting
contracts on new bids submitted Z
month later, Commissioner McKinnou
said work involved totaled $548, o87 OF
and bids were rejected because the
prices were too high"
He said that on September So
month later-bids were received on
the same projects and contracts