The Barre Daily Times

NEW ROAD COST $2,300.

Merchant Street Near City Farm Has a Solid Road Now.

Men from the street department were engaged yesterday in putting the final touches on one of the most substantial pieces of state road work yet constructed within the city limits. From the intersection of Maple avenue and Brook streets to the city line along Merchant street, Street Superintendent J. C. DeBrune has built some 900 feet of highway along the trunk line between Barre and St. Johnsbury at an approximate cost of $2,300. Already the road is in excellent condition and despite the heavy rains of three days prior, yesterday it was fit for all kinds of traffic.

Three weeks and more have elapsed since the work was started and in that period an average grade of four per cent has been established, an immense amount of blasting has been done among the trees and stumps near the city farm and the road has been made to conform with the state regulations by establishing a uniform width of 21 feet at all points. In some places it is even wider. The cost of labor, not including the cost of tile, grates and blocks for surface sewers, was $300.60. Ten receivers and 1,380 feet of 12-inch tile have been utilized and they have helped to swell the total cost of material to $585.87. In making the cuts and fillings on the sub grade, more than 1,260 cubic yards of earth have been moved at a cost of 30 cents per cubic yard and at an extra labor cost of $450. To do the state work, 1,488 yards of gravel were required at a cost of 53 cents per load for the 3,000 feet.

Near the city farm a retaining wall 450 feet long and five feet high and four feet thick was built at a cost of $117.01 or 35 cents per cubic yard. The wall, constructed in a substantial way, contains 333 1-3 cubic yards and was built as an alternative to blasting away considerable sections of a ledge on the opposite side of the highway. It has been estimated that a saving of $600 resulted from the decision to build the wall. The number of loads of gravel hauled per day for 24 days was 62. For one man on this work, 550 days of 5 1/2 hours would have been consumed at a cost of $1.90 per day or $1,045. For one team to have done this work, 129 days of five hours would have been consumed at a cost of $4.50 per day, or $581.25.