8 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS 



MICHIGAN 



ROADS AND FORESTS 



Official Paper of The Michigan Road Makers Association and 

 Michigan Forestry Association. 



70 Lamed Street West, Detroit, Michigan. 



EntereJ as Second-class Matter April 27. 1907, at the Post Office at De- 

 troit, Michigan, under the Act of Congress of March 3. 1879. 



Frank E. Carter Editor 



PUBLISHED EVERY MONTH 



. BY 



THE STATE REVIEW PUBLISHING CO, 



SUBSCRIPTION! ONE DOLLAR A YEAR, 

 PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. 



that the bids will then be publicly opened and 

 the contract awarded. The main dimensions 

 and sometimes the capacity only are specified, 

 and the bidders are asked or offer without 

 asking to submit their own plans and specifica- 

 tions. These facts being known to the bidders, 

 the natural outcome of this system, where 

 there is actual competition at the let- 

 ting, is a rivalry among the bidders to pro- 

 duce a design which may be built at the least 

 possible cost to the contractor. The resulting 

 bridge is a structure lacking in many of the 

 essential features necessary for strength and 

 durability. Invariably such plans are found 

 defective and usually to such a degree as to 

 merit unqualified condemnation. When these 

 various bids and plans are received and 

 opened the township board is entirely at a 

 loss as to what is the best thing to do, and 

 the result is that either the contract is given 

 to the lowest bidder on a very poor plan or 

 is given to a favorite bidder on a plan that 

 results in a worse bridge. This loose method 

 of contracting for bridges makes it practically 

 impossible for even honest officials to procure 

 a satisfactory structure, and opens up a way 

 for dishonest officials and contractors to ar- 

 range a deal whereby the public comes out 

 second best. It also makes it possible for 

 contractors to "pool," so that the bridge con- 

 tract will go to a member of the pool at an 

 agreed price. 



In order to secure a well designed bridge 

 under this plan of procedure, it is necessary 

 to make rigid specifications as to loading and 

 details of design under which the bridge is 

 to be planned. After the proposals are sub- 

 mitted it is also necessary to make a careful 

 examination of the plans in order to deter- 

 mine whether or not the conditions imposed 

 have been fulfilled. To handle the work suc- 

 cessfully in this way requires technical knowl- 

 edge and training which cannot be expected 

 of the local 'officials. 



The contract entered into is also frequently 

 vague and misleading. It is usually written 

 on a blank furnished by the bidder and often 

 contains clauses which operate to release the 

 contractor from responsibility of any kind. 

 One contract that I have in mind contained 

 a clause to the effect that for any member 

 or detail another of different size or shape 

 might be substituted at the option of the con- 

 tractor. This, of course, would make it un- 

 necessary for the contractor to follow the 

 plan submitted except as to general outline. 

 What is familiarly known as "skinning the 

 bridge" is the result. That is, the plans ap- 

 pear attractive to the board and may call for 

 a strong, heavy structure; but the contractor, 

 taking advantage of the substitution clause 

 in the contract and the lack 'of training of the 

 board, actually builds a much lighter, weaker 

 and consequently cheaper bridge. 



The only way to secure results in conform- 

 ity with the best modern practice is to secure 

 the skilled supervision of an engineer from 



the inception of the project. And I want to 

 say right here that the time has now arrived 

 for this subject to be given more attention 

 and study by engineers working in the employ 

 and for the interests of the public. 



It would be a good plan to have a special 

 department of bridges in the State Highway 

 Department under the supervision of a good 

 highway bridge engineer to act in a consult- 

 ing capacity, and raise the standard of our 

 county surveyors or create an office of district 

 engineer to act in the several districts and 

 in union with the State department. But, as 

 we do not have these engineers acting in this 

 capacity to rely upon, before advertising for 

 bids the matter of design of the bridge or 

 bridges should be placed in the hands of a 

 competent engineer. Detailed plans and 

 specifications should be prepared and an esti- 

 mate of the prorjer cost submitted to the 

 proper officials. All bids should then be re- 

 ceived on the official plans and specifications. 

 If the bids are too high they should all be 

 rejected and the work readvertised on the 

 same or revised plans. The bridge contractor 

 takes a considerable risk and is entitled to 

 a good, legitimate profit, and the engineer 

 should add 15 to 20 per cent for profit to his 

 estimated cost. No work should be done at 

 the shop until after the shop plans have been 

 checked and approved by the engineer. The 

 shop, field and final inspection should be in 

 the hands of the engineer. This method will 

 meet with the approval of all legitimate bridge 

 companies and will result in better bridges 

 at a cost less than that of our present miser- 

 able structures. 



road work. Commissioner Ely asserts that it 

 would be the most dangerous experiment, and 

 certainly the most costly of its kind that the state 

 of Michigan might attempt. 



"In the workhouses of the state of Michigan 

 are hundreds of tramps and bums, few of them 

 dangerous characters, who could be put to work 

 on the country roads every season," declares Mr. 

 Ely. "A few of these have been kept busy break- 

 ing stone during the past years, but only a few. 

 Put a thousand or more of these pettty prisoners 

 at work graveling and let the dangerous convicts 

 remain behind the prison walls and break stone. 

 To me this seems to be fairer, a cheaper and a 

 more sane solution of the convict labor problem. 



"No matter how strong the guard might be, I 

 know that I would not care to live in a district 

 where dangerous convicts we're making roads 

 and I don't believe that many people of the state 

 would. On the other hand, a vag or a drunk is 

 rarely a dangerous person. People brush elbows 

 with them every day, generally unconsciously, and 

 it would be a mighty good thing for the counties 

 of the state to provide them with some good 



CONCRETE ROADS STAND WINTER 

 TEST. 



The engineering force of the Board of County 

 Road Commissioners of Wayne county has 

 started to make surveys for Redford township 

 for the improvement of Grand River and Ply- 

 mouth roads. Tlie first four miles of Grand 

 River road, from Greenfield township line to the 

 village of Redford, will be built of concrete 9 

 feet wide, and when accepted by the State High- 

 way Department will merit a reward of $],ooo 

 a mile. Eroni the village of Redford on the 

 county line will be of gravel construction, 9 feet 

 wide. Plymouth road, through the township of 

 Redford, 6 miles long, will be of gravel 9 feet 

 wide, and will merit a reward of $500 per mile. 



These roads will be built under the direction of, 

 and paid for by, the township of Redford, the 

 money having been raised by bonding. When 

 the county commission reaches these two 

 stretches of road, they will, in all probability be 

 widened out to 12 feet on the gravel construction 

 and 16 feet on the concrete. 



Commissioner Haggcrty reports as a result of 

 a trip of investigation over the concrete roads 

 built on Woodward, Grand River and Wayne 

 roads, that they are in Al condition, having 

 stood the winter in a first-class manner ; and he 

 believes these roads, as designed and built by the 

 Wayne County Road Commissioners, to be out 

 of the experimental stage. 



Commissioner Murdoch reports that the resi- 

 dents of his township, in which Wayne road 

 south was built of concrete up to the village of 

 Wayne, are highly pleased ; and that a movement 

 is now on foot among some of the influential 

 citizens of Wayne to have the village authorities 

 continue the road through Wayne. 



Resolutions have been passed by the board 

 taking over Z l / 2 miles on Michigan avenue road, 

 1^4 miles on Grand River road, and 1*4 miles 

 to the county line on Woodward road as county 

 roads. These roads will be 24 feet wide over all. 

 Michigan and Woodw'ard will have IS feet of 

 metal, and Grand River 16 feet. Michigan 

 road will be built 7 inches deep in one course, 

 and Woodward and Grand River fiJ/2 inches deep 

 in two courses, with a 2^-inch crushed cobble 

 wearing surface. 



OPPOSES USE OF CONVICTS ON 

 ROADS. 



State Highway Commissioner Ely is opposed to 

 the employment of state prison convicts on actual 



CHEBOYGAN COUNTY ROAD IM- 

 PROVEMENT FOR 1910. 



John B. McArthur, chairman of the Che 

 boygan county road commission, reports 

 that the following road improvements in Che- 

 boygan county are planned for this year un- 

 der the county road system: Three miles 

 macadam road and three miles of gravel road 

 to be constructed. Two and one-half miles 

 of road to be graded and made ready for 

 graveling next year. Quite a lot of repair 

 work will also be undertaken. 



The Cheboygan county commission is 

 making a splendid record considering the com- 

 paratively small fund that is placed at it 

 disposition each year. The county, which is 

 generally experiencing the benefits of -the good 

 roads that are already in use, ought to mak 

 provision to extend the system more rapidl> 

 Nothing will do so much for the developmer 

 of the county as good highways. 



COUNTY ROAD ABANDONED. 



At a meeting of the County Road Commission 

 ers of Baraga county, the following resolutic 

 was unanimously adopted : 



"Resolved, That the county road known as the 

 L'Anse and Skanee road, formerly adopted (in- 

 cluding all the different parts adopted at different 

 times) by the board be and is hereby discontinued 

 and will no longer be a county road after due 

 notice of said discontinuance be given." 



ADVOCATE WINTER ROAD WORK. 



Sanilac county farmers are agitating the 

 question of road work in winter as well as 

 summer. They contend that it is just as 

 important to keep the roads in fine condition 

 in winter as any other time of the year. The 

 farmers of the county have had to contend 

 with bad roads most of the past winter. It 

 has been a loss to the farmers and an even 

 greater loss to the business interests 'of the 

 county. 



Arthur Hooker, secretary of the board of coi 

 trol of the national irrigation congress, will pr 

 sent a resolution memoralizing congress to i>s 

 3 per cent gold bonds, running 100 years, to the 

 amount of $1.000,000,000 for good roads and na- 

 tional highways. 



: 



uc 



The Business Men's Association of Bad \\e 

 has taken up the good roads question and lias 

 decided to assist the adjacent townships in build- 

 ing gravel roads. A fund of $3,000 has been 

 raised for the purpose. 



Cass county roads are in bad shape this spring, 

 especially the road between Dowagiac and ( 

 apolis. It would lie worth thousands of dollars 

 to the county if the roads were kept in proper 

 condition. 



