Evening star., 1961-02-15
SNOW

cost Of fixing potholes steadily
rises with the temperature.
r. Dana Wallace. the Dis
trict's highway official in
charge of street maintenance.
said his men are finding more
damaged streets than had been
earlier estimated. Repair Of
potholes damage. Mr.. Wallace
said, will probably exec ID
100000 so far this year.
His earlier estimate, made
last week when more streets
were still buried in snow. was
between 100000 and 100000
Presently there are 80 crews
working on temporary pothole
repairs. This is the maximum
effort the city can do with its
own work force.
More Men to Work
But this afternoon a meeting
has been called with four pri-
vate. contractors who will be
hired to throw in perhaps as
many as an additional 80 crews
to augment the Districts ef-
forts at pothole repairs.
This combined force is ex-
pected to continue work through
the week end.
by Monday. if the weather
holds up the way it has been
these past two days." Mr.. Wal
lace said, the streets will be
in good shape with temporary
repairs"
Traffic has been having trou-
BILE; moving both because Of
potholes and the hardened
snow that banks the edges OF
many arterial and secondary
streets. Motorists. trying to
keep clear of the ice mounds,
have in effect eliminated a
traffic lane that is normally
available in rush hours at
curbside. However, snow-re-|
moVal crews are still at work
clearing snow in the city.
Sun Biggest Help
But highway officials in sur
rounding counties say they
have done about as much snow
removal as they can do at this
time. They say the sun is
melting the ice that has been
piled at the edges Of highways
by the plows and "in the last
two days" one official said,
"the sun has done more than
all our previous efforts in get
ting rid of the snow"
The packed ice is so hard,
officials say. that much Of the
snow equipment available has
been damaged and in need of
repairs.
District snow removal Off
cials told Gen. Clarke that
about $750,000 should be spent
for new equipment. This would
include about eight snow blow
ers which mechanically pick
up snow and blow it to the
edges of highways; about 20.
new sanders in addition to so
now on hand, and 26 more
bucket leaders which scoop up
snow to be dumped into trucks
in addition to the 20 the Dis
trict now has.
More PlOws Needed
He was also told that a total
Of about go to rs new snow
plows are needed. The District
now has 200 of them, but about
40 to so need be replaced. This
replacement cost would take
the remaining $250,000 of the
total 81 million estimated for
new equipment.
The city's annual budget
normally includes only 1000
for new snow removal equip
ment.
Pothole repairs have been
Murdered by the wet conditions
OF the damaged streets. The
asphalt fill that is used cannot
stick as effectively when the
potholes are wet and to dry
them properly would greatly
slow down repairmen. Traffic
kicks the new asphalt fill loose.
The repairs are temporary
anyway. Later, workmen will
cut out the loose material,
place new base of either
concrete or gravel and roll
tight a new black top patch.
On some main streets the
concrete lane markings have
been dislodged. leaving ruts in
the roads. These too are being
temporarily filled with asphalt.
So far this year some 1000
tons of asphalt patching ma
terial has been used to tenn
porarily repair pothole damage
Mr.. Wallace said. This com
pares to $500 tons normally
used for an entire year.