Minnesota Highways, October 1952

              mm
MB BISTOW
VOL.   1,  NO.   12
1246 University Ave., St. Paul 4, Minn.
OCTOBER,   1952
Maintenance  Report  Shows   Diversified Activities
Resume of Biennial Report Lists Increased Costs
The cumulative report of the Maintenance Division
prepared as part of the biennial report of the Commissioner
of Highways for the two fiscal years ending June 30, 1952,
shows that expenditures for the period increased more than
four million dollars over the previous biennium.
This increase was reflected in all classes of maintenance
gork except that of "betterments." The reduction for this
~Jj resulted from an increased construction program which
in turn eliminated certain maintenance requirements on unimproved or obsolete highways.
In presenting the report for his
division, Maintenance Engineer C.
L. Motl has shown how diversified
are the activities of this division.
For ease in presentation he has assembled these many functions into
four classes of maintenance, with
the following expenditures for the
1950-52 biennium:
Routine $18,248,277
Special        4,980,360
Extraordinary    . .        528,869
Betterments         4,153,668
Total     $27,911,174
Routine    maintenance   includes
those general repair and upkeep
problems that are everyday jobs
of Highway Maintenance Men.
Often an excuse for something unusual is offered by, "Blame it on
the weather." Well, here is one
example of weather that plagued
the department: Plentiful moisture
and favorable growing conditions
caused heavy growths of roadside
brush and vegetation, causing a
sharp increase in the costs of cutting and clearing.
The patching and repairing of
surfaces due to the "winter of two
springs," plus excessive moisture
during the year, was much heavier
as the last two years were probably the worst in the department's
What Manner of Automobile Are These?
history for surface failures.
Other routine maintenance includes such things as shoulders and
side approaches, roadside and
drainage cleaning structures, and a
special project utilizing a new type
rubber composition for filling
cracks and joints.
Traffic   Services   Increased
Little services to the traveling
public have become so routine that
they are never noticed unless they
are missing. Heavy demands for
marking trunk routes, for warning
and informational signs, and for
center and hazard-line markings
are made by the road-users. It
cost almost a million dollars to provide these services.
Winter is not too distant when
again Hiwaymen will be out in all
kinds of weather for long hours on
(Continued on page two)
Can you identify these ancient vehicles? Ancient, that is,
because all except one are pre-World War I models. All decked
out with paint and lots of shiny brass, these antique, now, automobiles were the pride and joy of early-century sports.
Polished for a parade, they don't look older than the day
they were purchased, and, in spite of rough usage in some cases,
»r are in good  running* order today.   The  pictures are all  of
12   vintage,  taken   during   the   Golden   Jubilee   celebration   of
the Automobile Club of Minneapolis. For that occasion members
of the Antique Automobile Club of America formed a caravan of
over fifty of these early models to revive the olde "reliability
tours."
If you can't figure out what they are, maybe your folks can,
for many of our dads had their first rides in horseless carriages
like these.
Give up?   You'll find the answers on page eight.