Third biennial report of the Oregon State Highway Commission

Part 2

Chapter 23,165 wordsPublic domain

===========+==========+===========+===============+==========+========== Date of | Date of | Numbers | Highest |Par Value |Price Paid Sales | Bonds | | Bidder | | -----------+----------+-----------+---------------+----------+---------- Aug. 7, | Aug. 1, | 1- 520 | Lumbermen's | $ 500,000| $ 471,300 1917 | 1917 | | Trust | | | | | Company | | Sept. 12, | Sept. 1, | 521-1040 | E. H. Rollins | 500,000| 472,130 1917 | 1917 | | & Sons | | Mar. 15, | April 1, | 1041-1560 | Henry Teal | 500,000| 455,850 1918 | 1918 | | | | July 9, | July 1, | 1561-2280 | E. H. Rollins | 690,000| 643,770 1918 | 1918 | | & Sons and | | | | | A. B. Leach | | | | | +----------+---------- Totals |$2,190,000|$2,043,050 --------------------------------------------------+----------+----------

Under the provisions of Chapter 175 of the Laws of 1917, (Bean-Barrett) bonds to meet Federal co-operation are authorized. Four hundred thousand dollars par value of these bonds were sold August 18, 1918 by the Board of Control to the highest bidder, Clark-Kendall & Co., whose proposal was $381,160.00. These bonds are four per cent and mature in from four to eight years.

The work accomplished during the biennium may be summed up as follows:

50 miles of hard surface. 111.8 miles of broken stone or gravel surface. 134.5 miles of graded roadbed. 40 bridges.

With the close of the war and the prospect of declining prices of material and a more plentiful supply of labor, the Commission looks forward to 1919 as a year in which a great deal can be accomplished and at this date a tentative program has been prepared providing for improvement of the State Highways in every county of the State.

The report of the State Highway Engineer to the Commission is hereto appended, showing in detail the work accomplished and the expenditures during the biennium.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT OREGON STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION

STATEMENT FOR THE BIENNIUM ENDING NOVEMBER 30, 1918

ONE-QUARTER MILL TAX FUND-- Balance on hand December 1, 1916 $ 94,418.14 Turnover January 1, 1917 219,690.98 Turnover January 1, 1918 232,151.39 ----------- Total receipts $ 546,260.51 Expenditures from 1/4 mill tax fund to Nov. 30, 1918 528,789.99 -------------- Balance on hand December 1, 1918 $ 17,470.52

AUTOMOBILE LICENSE FUND-- Turnover October 1, 1917 $150,000.00 Turnover April 1, 1918 300,000.00 Turnover October 1, 1918 125,000.00 ----------- Total receipts $ 575,000.00 Total expenditures to Nov. 30, 1918 281,902.67 ------------ Balance, December 1, 1918 $293,097.33

SIX MILLION DOLLAR BOND FUND-- August 7, 1917, $500,000.00 bonds $471,300.08 Accrued interest 2,333.33 Sept. 12, 1917, $500,000.00 bonds 472,130.00 Accrued interest 1,833.33 March 15, 1918, $500,000.00 bonds 455,850.00 Accrued interest 222.22 July 9, 1918, $690,000.00 bonds 643,770.00 Accrued interest 2,606.54 ----------- Total receipts from bond sales $2,050,045.42 Expenditures to November 30, 1918 2,049,025.47 ------------ ------------ Balance on hand December 1, 1918 $ 1,019.95

STATE AND FEDERAL CO-OPERATIVE BONDS-- August 18, 1917, sold $400,000.00 $388,040.00 Accrued interest 2,844.44 ----------- $390,884.44 Expenditure of Board of Control this issue 400.00 ----------- Turnover by Board of Control to State Highway Commission $ 390,484.44 Expenditures to Nov. 30, 1918 28,539.55 ------------ Balance on hand December 1, 1918 $361,944.89

SUMMARY

=======+===========+===========+=============+============+============= | | | | Federal | | | | |Co-operative| | 1/4-Mill | Auto | Six Million | Bonds |Bean-Barrett | | | | State and | -------+-----------+-----------+-------------+------------+------------- Total |$546,260.51|$575,000.00|$2,050,045.42| $390,484.44|$3,561,790.37 Funds | | | | | Expend-| 528,789.99| 281,902.67| 2,049,025.47| 28,539.55| 2,888,257.68 itures | | | | | +-----------+-----------+-------------+------------+------------- Balance| $17,470.52|$293,097.33|$ 1,019.95| $361,944.89|$ 673,532.69 -------+-----------+-----------+-------------+------------+-------------

Report of the State Highway Engineer to the State Highway Commission of the State of Oregon 1917-1918

Herbert Nunn, State Highway Engineer

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

Salem, Oregon, December 18, 1918.

TO THE HONORABLE STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION, S. BENSON, Chairman, W. L. THOMPSON, Commissioner, R. A. BOOTH, Commissioner.

Gentlemen:

I have the honor to submit report covering the operations of the Highway Department for the fiscal years ending November 30, 1917, and November 30, 1918.

In view of the fact that the State Highway Department did not complete its organization until late in the season of 1917 and due to the further fact that practically all contracts were awarded after the first day of July, 1917, it was impossible to place before the State Highway Commission a report which would be of any particular value to the general public at the end of the last fiscal year. Therefore, it has been decided to submit the two fiscal years under one cover in order that the public may have at its command a statement of public highway expenditures and the accomplishments of the State Highway Department under the supervision of the State Highway Commission.

It was considered advisable by the Highway Commission to award contracts and get work under way as early in 1917 as the necessarily late organization of the Department would permit. The matter of preparing estimates and calling for bids was therefore carried out as rapidly as possible, using the data and surveys of the previous administration as a basis for estimates.

It is believed that by awarding the contracts during the year 1917, approximately twenty per cent was saved on all construction for the reason that the shortage in labor and material did not become serious in the State of Oregon until late in that season.

I wish to call the attention of the Commission to the law which requires the State Highway Commission to make county surveys upon the State highway system within the boundaries of any county making application. I believe the law to be a good one, inasmuch as it furnishes free to counties engineering skill which they cannot afford and places at their command an organization which is in a position to carry out preliminary location and estimates. The law states that this work shall be charged to the counties under any future appropriation which may be made to them.

The law limiting the expenditures of the State Highway Department for engineering and administrative purposes to ten per cent of the total moneys appropriated for construction, is sufficient for all purposes of the State Highway Department, as an examination of the tabulated report will show. However, as there are no separate funds set aside for the county work as above noted, it has been necessary for this Department to charge in all such work against our own engineering forces, and when I state to you that the total sum for strictly county work, as requested by the county courts, amounts to $137,954.74 in two years, you will see that the Department is carrying a rather heavy burden which in reality does not belong to it. So far the Department has been able to carry the burden and still live within the ten per cent, but at any time the counties increase their construction and engineering work and request our supervision, this might exceed the lawful limit which we are allowed. I recommend that this law be made clearer and that certain funds be set aside for engineering work handled by the State Highway Department for counties.

In order to anticipate the large amount of construction for 1919, the State Highway Department has worked a rather large engineering force throughout the summer of 1918 and will continue it through the winter of 1918 and 1919. This preliminary work is absolutely necessary in order to award contracts early in the spring of 1919. The Federal Government requires very carefully prepared plans and estimates for all future Government work and this has been anticipated also, and practically every project has been completed as to engineering features and submitted to the Federal Government for approval.

Respectfully submitted,

HERBERT NUNN, State Highway Engineer.

Report of the State Highway Engineer To the Oregon State Highway Commission December 1, 1916, to November 30, 1918

WORK ACCOMPLISHED

During the two-year period covered by this report, conditions have been unusually unfavorable for highway construction work. Labor and materials of all kinds have been difficult to secure, wages and prices have been very high, transportation facilities have been inadequate and many other conditions have operated to interfere with highway construction. During the last year public sentiment has been opposed to the prosecution of construction work and the restrictions imposed by the Federal Government have prevented the undertaking of any extensive program of road improvement. For these reasons the Highway Department has not handled nearly the amount of work that it would have handled under normal conditions, but nevertheless a great stride has been made in the development of Oregon's good roads system, and the Department feels that a fairly good showing has been made. The actual construction work undertaken and completed during the two years consists of fifty miles of paving, one hundred and eleven and eight-tenths miles of macadamizing, one hundred and thirty-four and five-tenths miles of grading and forty bridges and large culverts.

In addition to this actual construction work the Department has made surveys of nine hundred and two miles of State roads and has prepared designs for forty-two bridges for county authorities.

MONEYS AVAILABLE AND EXPENDED

From December 1, 1916, to November 30, 1918, the State Highway Department has had available for expenditure a total of $4,271,515.16 of State and County funds. Of this amount $3,597,982.47 has been expended. These amounts distributed over funds are as follows:

PAVING

A total of fifty miles of pavement was completed by the Department during the 1917 and 1918 seasons. Had it not been for the entrance of the United States into the war, this mileage would have been more than doubled, but with need of paving materials, labor and capital for war uses, the Commission felt that it must curtail its paving program to the greatest possible extent. To this end, only three miles of pavement was started during the 1918 season, whereas under normal conditions the mileage of new work would have been greatly in excess of the forty-seven miles undertaken in 1917.

The sections of pavement completed are as follows:

Clackamas County-- Miles Oregon City to Canby 7.5 Clatsop County-- Astoria to Svensen 3.5 Columbia County-- Scappoose to Multnomah County Line 2.5 Jackson County-- Ashland Hill Section 0.8 Tillamook County-- Tillamook-Cloverdale Section 5.0 Umatilla County-- Pendleton to Adams 10.0 Pendleton to State Hospital 1.0 Washington County-- Multnomah County Line to Yamhill County Line 12.5 Yamhill County-- Newberg to Washington County Line 3.2 Sheridan east 4.0 ---- Total miles paved 50.0

All of the above pavements are sixteen feet in width, and despite the fact that the prices of material and labor increased greatly during the period between the inauguration of the six million dollar paving program and the actual commencement of work, the cost of these paved roads has been only slightly in excess of $1,000.00 per mile per foot width contemplated at the time the six million dollar bond issue was voted. The actual cost of the fifty miles of completed pavement was approximately $872,500.00 which gives a unit cost of $1,090.00 per mile per foot width.

Each of the sections paved is described in full in an article under the heading of the particular county in which it is located.

MACADAMIZING

One hundred and twelve miles of State roads have been surfaced with broken stone and gravel macadam. Practically all of this surfacing is sixteen feet wide; there are, however, a few short stretches of nine-foot width necessitated by the coming on of wet weather before the full sixteen-foot width could be completed. The total quantity of broken stone and gravel placed in these 112 miles of surface was 247,925 cubic yards, an average of 2,210 cubic yards per mile, which quantity of material per mile gives an average loose thickness of eight and one-half inches for macadam sixteen feet wide. The Department's specifications call for a minimum thickness of six inches. In many places, however, particularly on the lower Columbia River work it was found necessary to place as much as eighteen and twenty-four inches of rock before a satisfactory foundation could be secured.

The sections upon which broken stone or gravel surfacing was placed are as follows:

Clatsop County-- Miles Astoria to Columbia County Line 24.4 Columbia County-- Clatsop County Line to Goble 27.2 Deschutes County-- Bend-Lapine Section (cinder macadam) 12.5 Douglas County-- Divide to Leona 7.0 Gilliam County-- Condon to Thirty Mile Creek 6.7 Hood River County-- Cascade Locks to Hood River 18.0 Jackson County-- Siskiyou Mountain Section 6.5 Lake County-- Lakeview-Paisley Section 4.0 Lane County-- Divide-Cottage Grove Section 1.0 Wheeler County-- Cummins Hill Section 4.5 ----- Total miles of macadam surfacing 111.8

A complete description of each of the above sections will be found in the chapter devoted to the county in which the work was performed.

GRADING

The grading work of the Highway Department is confined to the building of those sections of State roads which are so located that the counties in which they occur are not directly interested in their construction or which are so expensive that county funds are inadequate for their construction. The total number of miles graded during the last two-year period was 134.5 miles, most of which was on the Pacific and Columbia River highways.

While the grading work was greatly curtailed during 1918 on account of war conditions, work was continued in those localities where resident labor was available and where the work interfered in no way with more essential war industries.

A complete tabulation of the grading jobs is given elsewhere in this report, and a detailed outline of each is given under the respective county headings. A few of the more important grading jobs are as follows:

Miles Grading between Cascade Locks and Hood River in Hood River County 14.2 Elimination of Roberts Mountain grades in Douglas County 12.8 Grading of Rice Hill section between Oakland and Yoncalla 10.4 Elimination of Wolf Creek-Grave Creek grades in Josephine County 4.9 Reduction of Cummins Hill grade in Wheeler County 3.5 Grading between Oregon City and New Era in Clackamas county 4.5

BRIDGES

The State Highway Department has, during the period covered by this report, prepared designs for ninety-six bridges and fourteen special culverts. Of these structures sixty bridges and ten culverts have been constructed at a total cost to State and Counties of $617,388.09.

The structures paid for out of State funds consist of twenty-two reinforced concrete bridges, ten wood bridges, and seven culverts. The total expenditure of State funds for these bridges and culverts was $239,044.85.

The structures paid for out of county funds consist of thirteen reinforced concrete bridges, fourteen wood and steel bridges, and four culverts; the total cost of these structures being $378,343.24.

Of the structures paid for by the counties, the State Highway Department supervised the construction for three reinforced concrete bridges, four steel and wood bridges, and one culvert; the cost of which totaled $288,743.24.

A complete tabulation of the bridges designed and constructed is given in another part of this report, and complete descriptions of the more important structures will be found in the articles devoted to the particular counties in which the structures are located.

The $250,000.00 intercounty bridge across the Willamette River at Salem was completed, and has attracted more than local attention. While the cost of this structure was borne by Marion and Polk Counties the design and construction engineering were handled by this Department.

The reinforced concrete arch bridge at Hood River, the largest concrete bridge yet constructed in this State was designed and built under State supervision, although the County also contributed toward its cost.

Among the proposed bridges of considerable magnitude for which county officials have requested designs from this Department may be mentioned the Deschutes and Oregon City. The former will be located between the present toll bridge and the railroad bridge across the Deschutes River and will thus obviate the necessity of toll payments. It will consist of a series of reinforced concrete arches. The Oregon City bridge will replace the old suspension bridge across the Willamette. Studies are being made and comparisons of various types of bridges and locations of site are being made.

During the war period, both for patriotic and economic reasons the employment of steel bridges was discontinued and wooden truss bridges used instead. Now that the demand for steel for war purposes has subsided, and there are indications of a decline in the price of structural steel in the near future, the resumption of use of that material in the construction of bridges will probably be more general.

ELIMINATION OF GRADE CROSSINGS

The Department is working consistently for the elimination of dangerous grade crossings. No less than ten grade crossings have been done away with as far as through traffic on State Roads is concerned, during the past two years. Most of these eliminations have been brought about by holding roads on the same side of railway tracks instead of crossing over and back. Two of the eliminations, however, were brought about by grade separations; one near Rex in Washington County and another near Ashland in Jackson County, both of these grade separations being undercrossings.

An agreement was also reached whereby a reinforced concrete overhead crossing will be constructed to eliminate a very dangerous grade crossing on the Pacific Highway near Divide, in Lane County. This structure would have been built in 1918, but on account of the requirements of material for war purposes, the United States Highway Council ordered the construction delayed. It will undoubtedly be constructed during the 1919 season.

FEDERAL CO-OPERATION

In 1916, the United States Congress enacted a law making available $85,000,000.00 of Federal Government moneys for co-operation with the several States in the construction and improvement of roads. Of this amount, $75,000,000.00 is appropriated for co-operation on "Post Roads," roads over which either rural or star post routes are operated, and $10,000,000.00 is appropriated for co-operation on "Forest Roads," roads within or partly within National Forests.

During the five year period prior to July 1, 1921, there will become available to the State of Oregon from the Government Funds set aside by this Act the following amounts: