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Show TUNNEL WORK AT ZION ON SCHEDULE FIRST SECTION OF MILE BORE TO BE DONE SEPT. 22 Zion National Park, Utah, July 23 The job of driving the 5,800 foot tunnel tun-nel through the solid sandstone walls of Zion Canyon on the Zion-Mt. Car-mel Car-mel Highway is now well over half ( done, and, at the present rate of progress, prog-ress, there is every indication that work on the first section will be completed com-pleted by September 22nd, the final limit of the contract, it was announced by E. T. Scoyen, Park Superintendent, here today. To date the Nevada Contracting Co. has driven a total of 2,950 feet of the main more, and, in addition, have 1,-650 1,-650 feet of pilot bore cleared out a-head a-head of the crew working the enlarged enlarg-ed tunnel. Besides driving this much tunnel, the company has opened up five of the six observation galleries and put in 500 feet of lining in sections sec-tions which appeared to be dangerous. danger-ous. Taking all of these facts into consideration and also the amount of work accomplished in constructing the approach highway up the mountain moun-tain side to the tunnel entrance, the U. S. Bureau of Public Roads estimated estimat-ed that at the end of June 71 per cent of the work had been done in 73 per cent of the working time. Since that date progress had been steady and the job is now practically on schedule. During the month of June the contractor con-tractor drove a total of 1135 feet of the full sized tunnel, or an average of 37 feet per day. This is believed to be a record for this type of construction. con-struction. Work on the pilot bore goes forward at the average rate of 19 feet per day. Practically all of the heavy construction con-struction work on the roadway outside the tunnel had been completed. No definite date has been given yet for letting the contract for building the second section of four miles; but there will be no delay in starting this section after the present job is completed. |