Minnesota Highways, January 1952

              :
Mai TOW
VOL.   1,   NO.   3
1246 University Ave., St. Paul 4, Minn.
JANUARY,   1952
Freak "Spring Breakup" Poses New Problems
Field Forces Foresee Extensive Repair Needs
Paul Bunyan brought fame to Minnesota in many ways.
His tall tales are legends that recall the glories of Minnesota
in the lumbering days. One tale often remembered is the one
about the "Winter of the Blue Snow." That was the year that
heavy falls of blue snow covered the state.
We don't have Paul Bunyan with us today, but we do
have a winter that ought to become legendary, too. This
winter will probably be remembered as the "Winter of the
Two Springs!"
Hiwayan i_iub members are shown in the Central Office as they packed Christ-
boxes for needy families. Seated left is Phil Palumbo, chairman of the commit-
Others  are  Elmer   Erkkila,  Armand  Hochschieldt,  Dorothy  Pilcher  and   Betty  Ann
Hiwayan  Club members are si
mas
tee.  Others  are
Scheurer.
Hiwayans Shared Christmas
With Needy Families
Every year employees of various divisions and districts of the
Highway Department drop their
serious attitudes for a while and
join in the gay spirit of Christmas
jJes.
pnroughout the Central Office
and over the state these Yule-
time parties offer the highway
family opportunities to have fun,
perhaps enjoy a good meal and
exchange frivolous little gifts.
Telling of the many parties
would be interesting, and would
fill a lot of our space. But the editors of Minnesota Highways have
chosen only one of these. This was
not a party for employees, not too
many were there; it was an example of charitable work Hiwayans do to brighten the homes of
the less fortunate.
As they have for many years,
Hiwayans again provided a ray of
light and made the season a little
happier for a number of needy families. Some 25 households were
given the chance to enjoy Christmas with gifts of either food bask-
clothing or both,
'iiwayan councilmen made
^tir   most   successful   solicitation
for funds in the history of this unusual event, with more than $500
contributed by Central Office employees for this generous purpose.
With these funds, shoppers bargained for baskets worth about
$25 containing staple food items
and extras for Christmas dinners.
Or they determined the exact clothing needs of a family and provided complete outfits particularly for children.
A screening committee received
the names of those considered deserving, paying first attention to
the families of highway department employees who had been
stricken with illness or undue hardship. Committee members checked
with other agencies and visited the
homes of the proposed recipients.
From this list, they then determined which families should be assisted and to what extent. From
there the shoppers took over, noting sizes, ages, and appetites.
Then at Christmas, Hiwayan
Club members delivered these
food baskets or clothing parcels to
the homes of the chosen deserving
families. The expressions of grat-
For the first time in the 30-year
history of the department, Minnesota highways went through the
very un-welcome phenomenon of
two spring break-ups in the same
year.
Early snow fall and unseasonable severe freezing had brought
the problem of keeping highways
open sooner than was expected.
The usual winter work was anticipated by the Maintenance Division
and plows and other equipment
were ready. However the early icing and snow conditions did bring
this winter work early in the fall.
Then to top everything, the prolonged thaw—the second spring—
which followed early in December
caused many headaches and worries at a time when a good rest
was due after the snow removal.
As   a  result  of  the  extraordin-
itude, the bright twinkle in the eye
of a youngster with a new pair of
mittens, these were the only thank
you's the members wanted.
This was the Christmas party
we want to tell you about, the
party that made many hearts
lighter and gayer, the party that
made the Christmas of 1951 easier
for a lot of people.
Personnel Notice
Please let us keep up with you.
If you move, notify your supervisor and have your change of address reported to the Personnel
Office and the Civil Service Department. That's the only way you
can guarantee that you won't miss
out on receiving important information and notices which may be
sent to you. So, please let us know
when vou move.
ary weather conditions the department was forced to place load restrictions of five tons or less per
axle on almost 2500 miles of the
state's 11,900 mile trunk highway
network. Signmen had carefully
stored away until the real spring
those restriction signs, but had to
dig them out and place them in
December. A number of counties
followed suit to restrict some of
their highways.
Highway engineers are accustomed to seeing thousands of miles
of roads so restricted following
spring thaws. The thaws convert
frozen surfaces and sub-soils into
spongy masses causing many to
soften and often to disintegrate
the surfaces. The December spring
break-up was an un-expected burden.
The area most widely affected
was a belt in the central and
southern portions of the state. Here
road surfaces and roadbeds had
frozen to a reasonable depth, but
continuous thawing and rains combined to ruin the conditions.
In the north, most highways had
either frozen to a lower depth or
were not affected by the lengthy
warm weather further south. In
the extreme southern part of the
state, the frost depth was not as
deep and the roads were not damaged so severely.
The moisture and temperature
conditions teamed up to soften
roadways to such an extent that
normal usage quickly made them
impassable or resulted in permanent and costly damage. In order,
therefore, to protect motorists' investments in existing roadways,
Commissioner M. J. Hoffman im-
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