Minnesota Highways, December 1957

              MOM
m§&w»
VOL. 7,  NO. 2
1246  University Ave., St. Paul  4, Minn.
DECEMBER,   1957
•
Steps to Save
On Maintenance
Are Presented
A dozen steps for reducing
roadside maintenance costs
without sacrificing maintenance standards were advocated by George Meskal, MHD
maintenance engineer, in a
paper delivered at the recent
annual meeting of the American Association of State
Highway Officials in Chicago-
Noting that roadside maintenance expenditures for Minnesota
trunk highways have increased
203 per cent in the past 10 years,
to a 1956 total of $2,300,000, Meskal warned that expanding highway programs and public demand
for increased services will call
for  additional   maintenance    ex-
enditures throughout the nation
the years ahead.
A major step urged by Meskal
to hold down roadside maintenance costs was the "acceptance
and incorporation of soundly designed roadside development
practices" into original construction plans, as well as in the maintenance program. Such early
planning, he said, also will add
to the attractiveness of the highways.
First  Years  Are   Hardest
Noting that the first few years
after construction are the period
of greatest erosion, slides, washouts, silting of ditches and culverts, and other drainage and
erosion problems, Meskal said "It
is necessary that we avoid special
erosion problems by providing
proper drainage and erosion control structures, and other facilities during construction."
"Conservation of the existing
vegetation," he said, "is a most
important item for consideration
in grading projects. On some
projects, seedlings, shrubs and
trees within the construction limits could be salvaged and transplanted to new locations within
e right of way limits. All vege-
tion existing beyond the construction limits should be carefully preserved and protected to
provide erosion control, to save
on mowing costs, and to serve as
(Continued on page 7)
SEi- C£S. *££- «£>  =25. '
#reettng£ of tfje i§>eas.on
At this Christmas and New Year season, more
than any other, we become filled with the spirit of
holiday good will. Our thoughts, with this stimulus,
turn to those who are near and dear to us and to those
with whom we are associated in our everyday duties.
A great desire is born to express to them the best of
good wishes.
It is my sincere hope that Christmas will hold for
each of you a maximum of happiness and the joy of
sharing it with your loved ones.
The year so soon to end has held for all of us many
hopes, some joys, some disappointments, and perhaps
some sorrows. In the new year, may we not rest upon
our past successes or failures, but press forward with
the assurance that we will be rewarded with satisfaction and happiness for our efforts in the future.
With sincere wishes for a happy holiday season.
r&r:
^^m--
Commissioner
Allotment Steps and Authority
Outlined for State Aid Program
By MAC EVANS,  State Aid Engineer
The year 1957, which is soon to
become history, will long be remembered by the city and county
engineers for the many months
of added work required to develop the new State Aid system
and procedure. This cooperative
participation with the State Highway department was an entirely
new operation for the city engineers who will receive their first
state aid allotments in January.
Although long experienced in
state aid operations, the county
engineers were faced, under provisions of the recently adopted
constitutional Amendment No. 2,
with a more difficult task of developing data on a much larger
system that now includes 787
smaller municipalities.
Data as to the needs on each
segment of the approved county
and municipal State Aid systems
are now being coded and punched
on cards that will be fed into the
department's electronic computer
to determine the amount of state
aid that each county and muni
cipality will receive. It is estimated that the 9 per cent municipal share of the total road user
tax collections will approximate
$7% million and the counties' 29
per cent will amount to some
$24,300,000. Commissioner Zimmerman will make the actual
apportionment on or before the
second Tuesday in January in accordance with the formulas established by the 1957 Minnesota
Legislature.
County allotments will be divided into three accounts including the regular construction and
maintenance accounts and a new
municipal account for use exclusively within municipalities of
less than 5,000 population. On or
before January 25, each county
will receive an advance 50 per
cent of its annual maintenance allotment. Another advance of 40
per cent will be paid in July,
with the final 10 per cent retained
until the end of the year.
(Continued on page 7)
1957 Contract
Awards May Top
$341/2 Million
During the calendar year,
1957, to date, the Minnesota
Highway department awarded highway construction contracts totaling $33,681,877.
Of this amount, $22,993,406
was for regular state trunk
highways and $10,688,471 for
projects in the new Interstate network.
Bids on an estimated $885,000
of additional highway construction, all on regular trunk routes,
are to be opened December 20
to  complete the year's  lettings.
Early awarding of contracts
for the December 20 projects
would bring the total of contracts awarded in 1957 to greater than  $34%   million.
As evidence that needed work
on the regular trunk highway
system is not being sacrificed in
favor of the Interstate network,
MHD officials pointed to the fact
that the year's total of contracts
awarded for regular trunk routes
is more than double the total let
for Interstate routes.
Success of the Minnesota programs for both regular trunk
and Interstate network highways
may be measured by the fact that
the state is listed among the top
10 states in accomplishment in
both areas.
Of the grand total of $33,681,-
877 of contracts awarded this
year, $16,892,598 worth, or 50.2
per cent, are already completed.
Of the $22,943,406 of regular
trunk highway contracts awarded, $14,236,548, or 61.9 per cent,
are completed, and of the $10,-
688,471 of Interstate contracts,
$2,656,050, or 24.8 per cent are
completed.
Contracts awarded for the regular trunk highways covered
689.2 miles and 29 bridges. Work
completed on the regular trunk
highways totaled 182 miles and
four bridges, with 25 partially
completed.
The Interstate network contracts awarded were for 22%
miles of highways and 15 bridges.
Twelve miles are completed, but
none of the bridges.
The volume of work contracted in 1957 and to be carried into
(Continued on page 2)