Casper Daily Tribune Newspaper, February 15, 1925, Page 42

J” STATE CARRIES UT PROGRAM : | + Construction and ntenance Reach | All Districts. By J. F. SEILER | drawing plans pr , whi ft ant ¥ 5 tnel road which was later constructed on years all t as laid 4 Construction The Les 1919 and sub. seau of 1923 made better pro. nt, by authorizing bond tasue from automobile 1 fees. Thr | with what was done by the govern- Che Casper Dally Cribune SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1925 HWAY EXTENSIONS ADD PLEASURES TO MOTORING STATE HIGHWAYS OF WYOMING, MAINTAINED AND PROJECTED LARAMIE LINCOLN NATRONA INIOBRARA PARK PLATTE SHERIDAN SUBLETT! SW/-WATER TETON IUINTA |WASHAKE | WESTON OTAL 1 ah He i ‘ {aus | » a Me }@eai us 4 444 & 3 < ow ~F i oz i u : oz ' < uw : E& 1 Bs Peweye! J ar nome <5 H 2a ' = get i Paes = G4 i , Itc mm coer sm ohn me TE EELS mene men crs ree = OT CS at: » ERS «; ; VSR. Gee "eae ese funds, together with Federal] to that already constructed, leaving| that the expense of maintenance} mits traffic to utilize tt in practical- aid funds, which fortunately the| only elght hundred miles on the| would be extremely high, so the|ly all kinds of weather, whereas in state was able to take up to the full] whole system of 3,200 miles utterly | policy of constructing stich roads| the. case ofthe dirt road, traffic t of vernment allocation, and] unimproved, this mileage being for| was very soon discarded and all Fed-| particularly “in wet and “stormy | Po8d s0 with other funtis from oll royal-| the most part on routes where traf-| eral aid projecta since then have| weather, quickly wears’ deep ruts in additional appropriations} fle at present {& still very Mght.| been constructed with gravel wear-| such. roads, which remain in. the , gasoline tax and| During the past year also, the state ¢ ing surfaces, except in localities| surface during.practivally all of the so forth, the department has bullt,| maintained in good travelable con-| where the soil {tself is of such al rest Of the season and make mainte. ee rs x J, up to 1924, nearly | dition nearly 2,600 miles of road at) nature that it provides in {tself the} nance difficult and expensive. Im. eight hundred mile 8 of road to Fed and constructed a ocst. of approximately $580,000, or required surface, and also except in at the rate of about $220.90 per mile. such cases where on account of ex proved specifications governing the quality of graveled surfacing and d standards, with tractor outfits about a thou. Surfaced Rroad Construction cessive traffic it has been necessary| {ts appliance, are now making it sand miles more of fairly serviceable! When the Department really got| to pave with concrete or other hard| possible to bulla roads, second to roads, such as could be maintained| started in road construction on the| surface. At the present-time there| none, easily maintained in smooth at small expense, which, together | state highways, it was thought that| are nearly 800 miles of such high- condition, regardless of traffic and y to grade up and drain the roads,| ways with gravel runs from 25 to 40| weather, and resulting {in greatly ton forest roads, left less than] ieaving natural surfa would be} per cent of the cost of the whole! reduced costs, "Even such roads, ° rd of the so-called state high-| sufficient in many cases for the| road, depending upon the availabil-| however; havea limit in the, amount way ment ystem, on which no improve-| traffic which would have to be han-| ity of suitable materials and other| of traffic which’ they whatever had been made. iH a | rm ie = CASPER, WYOMING died, As various projects were com-| factors, but this expense is always| due to the fact that an excessive During the past year nearly two| pleted and traffic increased so rap-| more than justified because it makes| amount of traffic between periods hundred miles additional of high-| idly, tt soon became evident that|a road easier to maintain with the| of dragging breaks through the wu: grade improved roads were added! such. roads would not suffice, and! nh_amount of traffic, and _per-| facing looners the binder material which the wind blows away, result ing in the wéaring out of the road, It has been found that a graveled however, ts an economlo type to build where the traffic does not exceed 800 to 1000 vehicles per day, after which tt becomes economical to pave the road with concrete or some other hard surface. It ts the plan of the Department if possible, to complete the system of 3,200 miles with gravelled surfacing, with the expectation that this may be done before the necesity for paving on a big scale comes on. Bridge Construction ‘The Highway Department has constructed some very fine bridges in the State, of which the structures at Dougias, Casper, Thermopolis and Alcova are good examples. The de partment has followed the general of building bridge structures Construction of the diversion*dam for the Riverton Reclamation p: ject. made possible this fine bridge over the Wind River on the highw to the south entrance of Yellowstone park. from material available at, or near the site whenever possible, because in this way, even if the cost may be siightly higher than that of steel or other materials, which must be ship- ped in, it ts a good Investment to transform our own materials into cash for our own people, whenever possible, In cases, however, where materials are scarce and hauls ex- cessive, steel or timber {s used, ac cording to traffic requirements. Du ing the past year the department has used perhaps more creosoted timber than during all'the years be fore, and is making use of this ma- terlal, it is believed that very ser- vicable .structures have been. pro- vided at great saving to the people. A good example of this style of con- struction {s to be had in the bridges on the Orin-Shawnee road, the Yel- lowstone Highway ‘over Casper creek, near Petrie, and the bridge over the Badwater river, about four miles north of Shoshont. During the past year over one hundred such bridges have been bullt, aggregat- ing a total length of over 7,000 feet, at an nated siving of about $100 per foot over structures built of concrete or steel, and of the re- quired standards Elimination of Grade Crossings One of the very tmportant fea- tures of highway construction of this state has been the steady prog- ress which has been made in get ting rid of the always dangerous railroad grade crossings. At the be- ginning of operations in 1917, the State was faced with the problem of eliminating nearly one hundred such crossings, and the fact that to date almost forty of these have been eliminated shows that this. proble: has in no way been neglected by the commission throughout these years. During the past year alo seven grade crossings béen eliminated, some by relocation of roads and others by separation of have grades. In the latter case, the rail- way compantes generally ¢o-oper-| ate on a 50-50 basis, or through some other suitable plan One of the best examples of such work is shown in the sepatrion- of grades which was recently accom plished on the Lincoln Highway about 23 miles west of Cheyenne, fr the construction of the Ozone via duct ‘by the Union Pacific railway and the Highway Department, act- ing jointly. It has been truly sa that the only safe ra{lway gr crossing {s the one that has be eliminated, and the department | working with the end in vit to eventually “eliminate every su crossing that can possibly be dc in the whole state. It 8, of course, a slow task, because the cost of ey. ery grade separation structure ay erages from $15.000 to $20,000, Maintenance One of the greatest problems the department is that of main ing the roads of the state syst suitable for motor vehicle traff: due to the dry climate and hig winds prevalent in the state, It {s indeed a costly undertaking to keer up nearly three thousand miles ¢ roads. It 1s a task which requi areful organization and constant ilance to see that the work | properly done, and that the vari patralmen are on the job at the preper time. Steady {improvement however, {s being made year t , as better equipment ts bein: ned and longer stretches tak caro of by individual patrolmen o crewa, It is safe to say that ovr roads were never in such good cor dition and travel over them s0 easy and comfortable, Expensive ‘mai: tenance {s partly dug also to the fact that there are Still a large number of unimproved bridee which always give a great deal of trouble during times of flood ani high water. Very frequently suc bridges are undermined at the tims of heaviest traffic, and the expences of providing suitable detours ani constructing temporary crossings {s vi heavy, and makes large tn roads. on available maintenany: funds, The old bridge crossing: Wind River, four miles west of § shoni, !s a good example of ‘this where during the past season ‘in « pense of $100.00 a day in building a temporary structure, keeping up bank protection and fighting tho igh water generally, was entailed for a period of many weeks, in der that traffic might not be er tirely broken off. As a general rule, ‘maintenanés expense increases —proportfon. with “Increased ‘traffic, which counts for the fact that ‘seh pense is increasing At the “rate of from fifty to sixty thousand dollars (Continued on Page Five.) ac: YOMINGS BLACK OIL PRODUCES ASPHALT Help Create a Market for Wyoming’s Black Oil Paving Your Roads and Streets With W ARRENITE BITULITHIC Over Half Million Square Yards Proving Its Durability in Casper WARREN BROS. CoO. Preserve Home Industry by Using Home Products Boston, Mass. Portland, Ore. al