LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
Salem, Oregon, December 18, 1918.
TO THE HONORABLE STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION,
S. BENSON, Chairman,
W. L. THOMPSON, Commissioner,
R. A. BOOTH, Commissioner.
Gentlemen:
I have the honor to submit report covering the operations of the Highway Department for the fiscal years ending November 30, 1917, and November 30, 1918.
In view of the fact that the State Highway Department did not complete its organization until late in the season of 1917 and due to the further fact that practically all contracts were awarded after the first day of July, 1917, it was impossible to place before the State Highway Commission a report which would be of any particular value to the general public at the end of the last fiscal year. Therefore, it has been decided to submit the two fiscal years under one cover in order that the public may have at its command a statement of public highway expenditures and the accomplishments of the State Highway Department under the supervision of the State Highway Commission.
It was considered advisable by the Highway Commission to award contracts and get work under way as early in 1917 as the necessarily late organization of the Department would permit. The matter of preparing estimates and calling for bids was therefore carried out as rapidly as possible, using the data and surveys of the previous administration as a basis for estimates.
It is believed that by awarding the contracts during the year 1917, approximately twenty per cent was saved on all construction for the reason that the shortage in labor and material did not become serious in the State of Oregon until late in that season.
I wish to call the attention of the Commission to the law which requires the State Highway Commission to make county surveys upon the State highway system within the boundaries of any county making application. I believe the law to be a good one, inasmuch as it furnishes free to counties engineering skill which they cannot afford and places at their command an organization which is in a position to carry out preliminary location and estimates. The law states that this work shall be charged to the counties under any future appropriation which may be made to them.
The law limiting the expenditures of the State Highway Department for engineering and administrative purposes to ten per cent of the total moneys appropriated for construction, is sufficient for all purposes of the State Highway Department, as an examination of the tabulated report will show. However, as there are no separate funds set aside for the county work as above noted, it has been necessary for this Department to charge in all such work against our own engineering forces, and when I state to you that the total sum for strictly county work, as requested by the county courts, amounts to $137,954.74 in two years, you will see that the Department is carrying a rather heavy burden which in reality does not belong to it. So far the Department has been able to carry the burden and still live within the ten per cent, but at any time the counties increase their construction and engineering work and request our supervision, this might exceed the lawful limit which we are allowed. I recommend that this law be made clearer and that certain funds be set aside for engineering work handled by the State Highway Department for counties.
In order to anticipate the large amount of construction for 1919, the State Highway Department has worked a rather large engineering force throughout the summer of 1918 and will continue it through the winter of 1918 and 1919. This preliminary work is absolutely necessary in order to award contracts early in the spring of 1919. The Federal Government requires very carefully prepared plans and estimates for all future Government work and this has been anticipated also, and practically every project has been completed as to engineering features and submitted to the Federal Government for approval.
Respectfully submitted,
HERBERT NUNN,
State Highway Engineer.
Report of the
State Highway Engineer
To the
Oregon State Highway Commission
December 1, 1916, to November 30, 1918