OCR Text |
Show SEVIER-COVE FORT ROAD The survey for this road project was made in the summer of 1919, and on account of the continued pressure brought to bear on this of-I of-I flee for cheap surveys, a preliminary type of survey was used on this project, pro-ject, consisting of a stadia, line with such information as could be obtained obtain-ed from such a line this being the method recommended by the forest service for work of this class. The length of the project was 20.5 mij.es and the survey and plans were completed com-pleted for $3,142.87, or a cost of $153 per mile. Bids were first opened for construction con-struction on February 24, 1920. At this time but one one bid was received re-ceived for a total of $126,371.50 while the engineer's estimate was (. 7 . r 3 4 . 0 0 . On account of the desir-I'b. desir-I'b. ity of constructing the road during dur-ing the season of 1920 an engineer was assigned to the project aboutthe 1st of March, but on account of the fact that desirable bids were not received, re-ceived, his time from then until the 15th of April was spent in an endeavor en-deavor to secure station contracts but failing in this he was instructed to make preparations for constructing construct-ing the project by day labor. Difflcul-ty Difflcul-ty having been found in securing station contracts and considerable intrest having been aroused among local contractors, the project was again advertised. Bids were opened on April 15, 1920, when bids were received from the firms of Paxton & Dorrity and Ross and Bean, which approximately equalled the engineer's engi-neer's estimate. Award of contract was made to these firms for different sections of the work and staking out of the work for construction was begun. be-gun. Up to- this time, however, there ha? been expended by the engineer on the project in securing bids, $1,-727.90. $1,-727.90. As the only funds available for carrying on these contracts are those allotted for the contract itself its-elf and for the engineering, this amount am-ount of preliminary work was necessarily neces-sarily charged to the engineering cost. On Sections 1 and 2, Ross and Bean have completed approximately two-thirds-of their work. On Section 3 Paxton and Dorrity have completed complet-ed their work with the exception of one drainage structure which remains' re-mains' to be installed in the spring. The total cost to date of the three sections have been as follows: Construction $43,503.44 Engineering 15,961.63 Total $59,465.07 Per cent of Engineering Cost 27. Estimate Cost to Complete includes inclu-des above. Construction $55,950.00 Engineering 19,000.00 Total $74,950.00 Percent of Engineering cost 25." Original Estimated Cost: .Construction $67,334.00 Engineering 6,733.40 Total '. $74,067.40 ""-From the above it will appear. that at present it is expected that the "construction rest will have been decreased de-creased by $11.3S4.00, while the engineering" en-gineering" "cost-will" "Have" ' increased $12,206.60 making an increase in the total cost of $8S2.60. On account of the preliminary na-' na-' .'p of the original survey, it was necessary to throw away practically practical-ly all the wcrk which had been done ami rostake the entire line as if no original survey had been made. In fact, the only use which could be mad? of the original work was as a tie line with which to make rough checks of the location. In addition, it was necessary to later restake the entire line on the east side of the summit covering Sections 1 and 2. stakes having been in one case obliterated obli-terated by the passage of stock and in the second case by heavy cloudbursts cloud-bursts which occurred after the second sec-ond staking and had been made and before the construction work could lie performed, the detritus from the cloudburst completely covering the stakes. This additional staking necessitated necessi-tated the maintenance of a much larger engineering crew during the major part of the smson than would otherwise have been necessary. In staking the line for construction construc-tion it is to be noted that the line as constructed eliminates 2500 degrees of curvature from that shown in the originial set of plans, prepared from the stadia survey, and it is on this point and on the reduction of contract con-tract cost that the engineering crew is to be commneded. Frequent inspections in-spections of the work were made from the office and. every endeavor was made to cut down the engineering engineer-ing cost at the same time securing proper control of the work. It should also be stated that over a great portion of the work the width secured is in excess of that proposed in the original plans and this fact, together with the straightening straight-ening effected in the line, makes the road much more usable than it would have otherwise have been. In fact, had the road been constructed on the original plans it would have been much mo-re costly than was shown by the original estimate on ac count of the" large amont of rock which would have been encountered and which was not classified originally. origin-ally. The road would also have been poorly located both as to line and grade, so that any future widening of the project would have thrown away a great deal of the work already al-ready done. As constructed, all the work done will be used in any future widening and the road at present is a much more usable road than would have been the case under the original origin-al plans. The main features regarding the comparison of construction and engineering en-gineering costs may be briefly summarized sum-marized as follows: 1. The use of an inadequate survey sur-vey method from which an unusable set of plans resulted. 2. The expenditure of ' over $1.-700 $1.-700 in securing satisfactory contracts con-tracts rather than the construction of the. project by day labor. 3. The relocation of the entire line from beginning to end to eliminate heavy rock work and to strengthen and widen the construction resulting result-ing In a much better road than that originally contemplated. 4. The restaking of the project and the consequent increased cost of engineering, en-gineering, due to passage of stork over the line and to cloudbursts. B. J. Finch, District Engineer |