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
WORK ACCOMPLISHED
During the two-year period covered by this report, conditions have been unusually unfavorable for highway construction work. Labor and materials of all kinds have been difficult to secure, wages and prices have been very high, transportation facilities have been inadequate and many other conditions have operated to interfere with highway construction. During the last year public sentiment has been opposed to the prosecution of construction work and the restrictions imposed by the Federal Government have prevented the undertaking of any extensive program of road improvement. For these reasons the Highway Department has not handled nearly the amount of work that it would have handled under normal conditions, but nevertheless a great stride has been made in the development of Oregon’s good roads system, and the Department feels that a fairly good showing has been made. The actual construction work undertaken and completed during the two years consists of fifty miles of paving, one hundred and eleven and eight-tenths miles of macadamizing, one hundred and thirty-four and five-tenths miles of grading and forty bridges and large culverts.