Minnesota Highways, January 1954

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VOL. 3, NO. 3
1246 University Ave., St. Paul 4, Minn.
JANUARY,   1954
Outlook for 1954
$34 Million Construction Program
CONTRACT  SIGNED  WITH   BUILDING  ARCHITECTS
The architectural firm will study
he  department's  present  and fu-
Gov. C. Elmer Anderson has
anounced that the state has signed
a contract with Ellerbe and Co. ol
s^^aul to develop architectural
lHAfor a new highway department building on the Capitol Approach.
The building, which according
to earlier estimates will cost in
excess of two million dollars, will
be constructed southwest of the
present State Office building on
part of the Capitol Approach development.
Maurice Potter
Paid Tribute
Maurice Potter, Signman in
District 16, was paid a fitting
tribute recently in an article published in "The Silent Worker," a
magazine for the deaf.
Potter was an outstanding athlete _on the 1926-27 teams of the
itf^^. . School Inr die Deal and
iirS^ excellent athletic records,
according to the author who was
manager of the 1927 football team
of that school.
In the writer's opinion, Potter
was unbeatable for speed and field
generalship. Playing against the
St. Olaf college second team, Potter went 90 yards for one touchdown and 50 yards for another to
help his team's 16-12 victory.
After graduation, Potter kept
active in sports, playing baseball
in Windom for a number of years.
In 1949, he switched to calling 'em
for others, and became an active
member of the Southwestern Umpire Association.
He joined the Highway Department in May, 1935, as a Laborer,
and is now a Signman in the Windom office.
ture needs to determine the size
of the building.
Consideration is being given the
plans of incorporating all St. Paul
Highway Department activities, except Driver License examining
station, and the testing laboratory
now on the University of Minnesota campus into the new building.
Presently these are at 1246 University Ave. and five other locations.
At the present time, the Organization and Method section of the
department is working closely with
Ellerbe and Co. in making the
preliminary studies required to
determine space needs.
There is also a possibility the
motor vehicle license and chauffeur's license divisions, now in the
state capitol, may be housed in the
new building.
Department Income Estimated At
$55,000,000 For Coming Year
The begirming-of-the-year outlook for improvements on
state trunk highways, rural and urban, is for a construction
program of approximately $34,000,000 during 1954, according
to a tentative forecast of Highway Commissioner M. J. Hoffmann.
This will be reasonably comparable, although perhaps a
little less, than the trunk highway construction contracts let
during 1953 and should accomplish approximately six per
cent of Minnesota's recognized long-range improvement
needs on the 11,877 mile Trunk Highway System
At this date the State Highway
Department's 1954 program is in
a very formulative and flexible
stage, but the tentatively proposed
projects, including field engineering costs as well as actual contract prices, include: About 324
miles of grading at $8,243,000;
some 90 miles of concrete paving
(which including mileage of four-
New officers of the Hiwayan Club took time to examine the
Christmas decorations of the Finance Division of Central Office for
their first group picture. L to R are Harold E. Olson, president;
Dorothy Pilcher, secretary; Roy Brand, treasurer; and Bud Berg,
vice-president. Olson is engineer of Roadside Development of
the department. Lest there be misunderstanding, the officers took
advantage of a  tree  already decorated.
lane divided highway constitutes
equivalent of 101 miles) at a cost
of $6,121,000; about 437 miles of
stabilized base construction and
bituminous surfacing costing
$8,164,000; 143 miles of bituminous surfacing of existing roadbeds at $1,782,000; 46 miles of
widening and modernizing of old
pavements at a cost of $2,953,000;
and 58 bridges estimated to cost
about  $5,615,000.
This itemized total, upwards of
$33,000,000, does not include
miscellaneous construction items
which will be required, nor special
projects or emergency jobs that
may become necessary.
By comparison, construction
contracts let during 1953 included:
304 miles of grading costing
$9,314,000; 120 miles of concrete
paving costing $9,223,000; 464
miles of stabilized base construction and bituminous surfacing at
$8,397,000; 43 miles of bituminous
surfacing at $379,000; 54)2 miles
of obsolete concrete pavement
widening costing $3,365,000 and
30 bridges contracted at a cost of
$2,716,000.
Miscellaneous items added approximately $396,000 worth of expense bringing the total of contracts let to approximately $33,-
790,000. In addition, field engine-
(Continued  on  page  4)