CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 89 



It may therefore be assumed that after these years of experience 

 and study the commission has devised a complete system of roads 

 throughout the entire State, and has, from its knowledge of the 

 adjoining States, fixed upon points where connections between 

 them should be made. It may also be assumed that in this time, 

 having had all conditions of soil and topography forced upon them, 

 the commission has reached a fairly reliable method of construc- 

 tion under all conditions. 



The State of Massachusetts is divided into five divisions, each in 

 charge of a division engineer. His duty is to supervise the con- 

 struction and maintenance of every State highway, including the 

 bridges and culverts on the State highways within his division; 

 and he is held responsible for the carrying out of contracts and the 

 well-being of his division. 



Upon the commission's determining that any road should be 

 taken as a State highway, a party of surveyors is sent into the 

 field to make a careful survey of the road itself. The notes of 

 this survey are worked up in the main office of the commission, 

 and accurate plans, profiles and cross-sections are plotted from 

 them. Upon the plan and profile thus made the engineer in charge 

 of the office draws a tentative location and grade for the State 

 highway. The plan, profile and cross-sections are then sent to 

 the division engineer, who is required to make a report upon the 

 proposed location and grade of the road, and to give the location 

 and size of culverts, all the necessary drains, the character of the 

 soil on which the road is to be built, his recommendations as to the 

 material at hand, and whether any part or the whole is to have 

 a foundation either of stone or gravel, what the cross-section of 

 the macadam is to be, and what kind of stone is to be used, whether 

 local or trap. Upon the plans thus made, and the report of the 

 engineer, a carefully made estimate of quantities and costs is pre- 

 pared for the use of the commission, and upon this report and 

 plan contracts and specifications are prepared and submitted to 

 bidders. Ordinarily, the lowest bidder is accepted to do the work, 

 although the commission does not hesitate to reject the bid of 

 any contractor who is known to be incompetent or otherwise unfit. 

 Under the contract and specifications the road is built, and every 

 detail is watched by an inspector, under the division engineer. 

 Neither the division engineer nor any other person, except the 

 commission itself, can make any modification in a contract or 

 specifications after the contract is awarded. The same care is 

 taken whether a town or city takes the contract or whether the 



