Third Biennial Report of the Oregon State Highway Commission Part 3

THE PACIFIC HIGHWAY

The Pacific Highway running from Portland, through Oregon City, Salem, Albany, Eugene, Roseburg, Grants Pa.s.s, Medford and Ashland to the California line, is probably the most important through highway in the State. Along it are situated nine of the most important cities of the State. It traverses the immensely productive valleys of the Willamette, the Umpqua and the Rogue Rivers. It is the intercommunicating road for nine of the thirty-five counties of the State, and pa.s.ses through the county seats of all but one of the nine. It is the only continuous and direct road along the Pacific Coast west of the Cascade Mountains, and connecting as it does the metropoli of the three Pacific Coast States it is the most important interstate highway in the West. From the standpoint of the tourist, Oregon would not be on the map if it had no Pacific Highway. It is the road that makes Oregon accessible to tourists from other states.

Being the most important highway in the State, the Pacific Highway should be the best highway in the State. To make it the best and at the same time to bring it up to the standard of the same highway in the adjacent states of Was.h.i.+ngton and California is one of the ends toward which the Highway Commission has been working during the past two years.

During that time 53.3 miles of the very worst stretches of this highway have been newly graded to trunk highway standards. This grading has eliminated practically all of those heavy and dangerous grades which have made Oregon notorious for bad roads and which have kept thousands of auto tourists from visiting the State. In addition to grading 53.3 miles on the Pacific Highway, the Highway Commission has put down 8.3 miles of pavement and 14.5 miles of macadam, the total cost of all of these improvements being $971,000.00. As a part of the 1919 program, the Highway Commission has already appropriated for the improvement of the Pacific Highway the sum of $1,147,000.00, with which it is planned to build 46 miles of pavement and 38 miles of macadam surface.

The particular sections of the Pacific Highway constructed during 1917 and 1918, together with their mileages and total costs are given below.

All of these sections are completed with the exception of the Canyonville-Galesville Forest Road Project which is well under way.

================================================+=====+=========== Sections |Miles| Total Cost ------------------------------------------------+-----+----------- Grading (including bridges)-- | | Oregon City to New Era | 4.0|$ 75,000.00 Divide to Leona | 7.0| 50,000.00 Yoncalla to Oakland | 10.8| 101,100.00 Myrtle Creek to Dillard | 12.8| 165,500.00 Canyonville to Galesville | 9.7| 211,000.00 Wolf Creek to Grave Creek | 4.9| 68,300.00 Grants Pa.s.s to Jackson County Line | 3.3| 13,000.00 Ashland Undercrossing | .8| 9,800.00 | | Macadam-- | | Cottage Grove to Divide | 1.0| 6,100.00 Divide to Leona | 7.0| 64,000.00 Siskiyou to California Line | 6.5| 56,300.00 | | Paving-- | | Oregon City to Canby | 7.5| 135,000.00 Ashland Hill Section | .8| 15,900.00 +-----+----------- Total cost of improvements completed and under| | way on Pacific Highway, 1917-1918 | |$971,000.00 ------------------------------------------------+-----+-----------

THE COLUMBIA RIVER HIGHWAY

The Columbia River Highway is second only to the Pacific Highway as a commercial necessity in the state of Oregon; furthermore, the Columbia River Highway is the only connecting link between Eastern and Western Oregon that can be kept open for vehicular traffic throughout the entire year.

From a scenic standpoint, the Columbia River Highway has now become world famous, not only because of its wonderful natural advantages of location, but because of the high standard of construction. A large part of this combined commercial and scenic road is now open to traffic and the coming year will see the elimination of the last almost impa.s.sable barrier--the summit between Hood River and Mosier, a piece of construction 5.8 miles in length which will cost approximately $350,000 for the grading alone.

The Columbia River Highway parallels the Columbia River from the Pacific Ocean to Umatilla, a distance of 320 miles, thence southeast an additional 40 miles to Pendleton, where it connects with the Old Oregon Trail. The Old Oregon Trail continues southeast for a distance of 190 miles, crossing the Idaho-Oregon line at Huntington; making a continuous highway 550 miles in length.

At this date, the grading of the Columbia River Highway is practically complete from Astoria to Hood River, a total distance of 174 miles, and the greater part of it is now either paved or macadamized.

The cost of work completed on the Columbia River Highway between Astoria and Portland during the period covered by this report, after all payments are made will be approximately $866,000.00, of which amount $832,078.35 has been expended to date. The work accomplished consists of 9.4 miles of grading, 51.6 miles of macadamizing, 6 miles of paving, 15 reinforced concrete bridges and one covered wood draw bridge.

On the upper Columbia River Highway between Hood River and Cascade Locks, 14.2 miles have been graded, 18 miles gravelled, and a number of reinforced concrete bridges built, among which is the Hood River bridge at Hood River, costing $48,000.00. The total cost of the work completed between Hood River and Cascade Locks will amount to $466,000.00.

The sections improved during this period, with their mileages and costs are as follows:

====================================+=====+============= Sections |Miles| Total Cost ------------------------------------+-----+------------- Grading-- | | Cascade Locks to Hood River | 14.2|$ 355,000.00 Goble to Clatskanie | 8.2| 78,500.00 Astoria to Svensen | 1.2| 15,000.00 | | Bridges-- | | Hood River Bridge | | 48,000.00 Beaver Valley Bridges | | 32,000.00 John Day River Bridge | | 25,000.00 Other Bridges | | 31,000.00 | | Paving-- | | Astoria to Svensen | 3.5| 65,000.00 Scappoose to Multnomah County Line| 2.5| 37,500.00 | | Macadamizing-- | | Astoria to Svensen | 5.5| 30,000.00 Svensen to Columbia County Line | 18.9| 215,000.00 Clatsop County Line to Goble | 27.2| 335,000.00 Cascade Locks to Hood River | 18.0| 65,000.00 +-----+------------- Total Expenditures 1917 and 1918| |$1,332,000.00 ------------------------------------+-----+-------------

During 1919, work will be undertaken on the Columbia River Highway to the amount of $1,400,000.00, comprising 10 miles of pavement, 85 miles of gravel macadam and 80 miles of grading. This work when completed will provide a surfaced highway between Astoria and Pendleton.

COUNTY WORK SUPERVISED BY THE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT

That the Counties of the State have confidence in the Highway Department and recognize the ability of the Department to get results is evidenced by the fact that $709,724.79 of county funds have been voluntarily turned over to the Department during 1917 and 1918 to be expended under its supervision.

This, $709,724.79, is the actual amount of money paid out by Counties on vouchers audited and approved by the Department. In addition to this a large amount of work has been done by Counties under the supervision of the Department, for which payment was made direct by the Counties without being audited by the Highway Department. No record of the total amount thus expended is available, but it is estimated to be about $200,000.00. No part of this amount is included in any of the tabulations of expenditures given in this report. The cost of engineering and supervision of work handled in this manner, has been paid by the Highway Department and is included in Table VI of the Financial Report as "Engineering County Construction."

For co-operation on Post and Forest Road Projects, a total of $325,000.00 of County Funds have already been pledged. Of this amount $155,000.00 will be expended under State supervision, and $170,000.00 under Federal Government supervision.

CONSTRUCTION WORK BY STATE FORCES

While the major part of the work supervised by the State Highway Department is handled under the contract system, it has been found to be good business for the Department to go into compet.i.tion with contractors and where satisfactory bids are not received to proceed to handle the work with State forces.

During 1917 and 1918, the Department handled in this manner the construction of 45.5 miles of macadam surfacing, 3.0 miles of concrete paving, and 27.3 miles of grading.

Although war conditions prevailed during the past year and every possible obstacle had to be surmounted, the work done with State forces made a creditable showing when compared with cost plus and contract jobs. Especially is this true of paving work where a comparison of costs with bid prices show a very substantial saving to the State, as ill.u.s.trated by the following table:

===================+======+==========+==========+===========+========== |Length| Prelimi- |Cost Based|Actual Cost|Saving to | in | nary | on Lowest| With State| State | Miles| Estimate | Bid Price| Forces | | | of Cost | | | -------------------+------+----------+----------+-----------+---------- Sheridan Paving | 2.2 |$42,535.50|$52,438.00|$40,065.61 |$12,372.39 Ashland Hill Paving| .8 | 16,962.00| 19,858.66| 15,908.03 | 3,950.63 +------+----------+----------+-----------+---------- Total | 3.0 |$59,497.50|$72,296.66|$55,973.64 |$16,323.02 -------------------+------+----------+----------+-----------+----------

Highway construction by the State Highway Department with its own forces has its limitation, however, in spite of the fact that it is often possible to do work at less cost than by contract. The Oregon State Highway Department is by law and of necessity an engineering organization and, in order to have the best success in handling construction work, it is necessary to have a distinct organization.

In the hiring of men for handling such construction, it is necessary for the State to compete with contractors for the higher priced and more experienced men, and the contractor is often in a position to offer more salary than the State. Furthermore, it is necessary for the State to carry large quant.i.ties of expensive equipment which is idle at least a part of the year, and, in fact, the amount of equipment necessary to handle all of the State work by force account would represent too large a portion of the year's available money for road work.

In handling its construction work direct, however, the Department has the advantage of not being required to make a profit on the work, neither has it to pay interest on the necessary moneys to carry payrolls and other incidentals, neither is there any loss in retained percentage.

The State does not have to carry a construction bond and, in fact, there are many reasons why a state should handle its construction direct, cheaper than by contract.

There is much to be said on both sides of the question, but the Department at this time does not believe that it is justified in attempting to handle all of the State work, believing that only under certain conditions where the State does not receive reasonable bids the work should be handled direct.

The State Highway Department has many large construction jobs under contract at one time, and it is obvious, even to the layman, that an organization to handle all of this work with State forces is impossible under the present laws of the State of Oregon, and the Department recommends that force account be limited to such cases as are mentioned above and work for which the quant.i.ties and cost can not be closely estimated in advance of construction, such as maintenance work and light grading.

STATE HIGHWAY FUNDS

The funds at the disposal of the Highway Department are divided as follows:

=The State Highway Fund= provides for one-quarter mill tax on the a.s.sessed valuation of the State. This fund amounted to $219,690.98 in 1917; $232,151.39 in 1918 and in 1919 will equal $246,883.47. The money available in this fund provides a sufficient sum for the salaries and expenses of the State Highway Department, and the cost of maintaining State highways which have been constructed or improved. It is provided also, that with the proceeds of this fund, the Commission may enter into co-operative agreements with any County for the survey, construction, improvement or maintenance of any State highway upon such basis or contribution as may be agreed upon. The Bridge Department is maintained out of this fund and furnishes designs for structures desired by the counties.

=The Automobile License Fund.= Under the provision of Section 12, Chapter 423, Laws of 1917, the Secretary of State is directed to transfer to an account under the jurisdiction of the State Highway Commission, the receipts from the automobile license fees, less the cost of administration. The law provides that these funds be transferred on April 1 and October 1 of each year. The 1918 receipts from this fund were $425,000.00 and with the rapid increase of the number of automobiles, it is expected that this amount will be increased from year to year. The fund provides for the payment of princ.i.p.al and interest, as the same shall become due, on the bonded indebtedness of the State of Oregon, contracted for road purposes under the provisions of the Six Million Dollar Bonding Act and the State and Federal Road Bonding Act.

The unexpended balance may be expended on such State highway projects as the Commission approves.

This fund is also used for co-operative work in counties where the Six Million Dollar Fund may not be used and on State Highways not eligible for improvement under the Post and Forest Road Acts.

=The Six Million Dollar Road Bond Fund= provides for the issuance of six million dollars in bonds during the next five years. It provides for the sale of one million dollars in bonds in 1917; two million dollars in 1918, and the balance as the Commission may think advisable. The primary purpose of this act was to provide paving on the main highways of the State, contingent upon the counties preparing the road bed according to the plans of the State Highway Engineer.

It also provides funds for the grading of the road bed on the Columbia River Highway in Clatsop, Columbia and Hood River Counties and on the Pacific Highway in Jackson County.

At this date a total of $2,190,000 par value of bonds have been sold.

=State and Federal Co-operative Road Bonds.= Under the Federal Aid Road Act there is provided for expenditure by the Federal Government during the next five years, $1,180,310.85 for the construction of Post Roads in the State of Oregon and there is also available during the same period the sum of $638,970.00 for the construction of highways within or partly within the National Forests of the State. The purpose of this Act is to meet Federal Aid in an equal amount and under this provision a total of $1,819,280.85 in bonds is authorized to be issued by the Board of Control and placed in a special fund to be used in carrying out the provisions of this Act. A total of $400,000.00 par value of these bonds have been sold.

EQUIPMENT

The State Highway Department owns construction and hauling equipment to the approximate value of $100,000.00. This equipment is too varied and extensive to be shown in detail in this report. However, it includes six heavy auto trucks, two light auto trucks, twenty-two touring cars, three concrete mixers, two gasoline locomotives, three road rollers, one Brown hoist, one asphalt paving plant, three rock crushers and an extensive supply of camp equipment, small tools, drills, steel, pipe, etc.

Most of this equipment is in fine working condition and adaptable to general highway work and has been used during the past year. However, we have on hand a certain amount of machinery which was bought for special purposes in former years, and while it has no doubt made a saving sufficient to justify its original cost, the Department has no more use for it and it would be advantageous to the Department if this equipment could be disposed of and the money invested in more necessary machinery.

Under present conditions, the State law makes it necessary to return any money from the sale of materials, supplies or equipment into the General Fund of the State, and it is impossible to get this money back into highway funds without a special act of the Legislature. Despite this fact, however, some equipment was disposed of during the past year and the money turned into the General Fund.