PROPOSED CITY WORKS.

Evening Star, Issue 3646, 29 October 1874, Page 2

PROPOSED CITY WORKS.

At yesterday’s meeting of the City Council a lengthy report of tine Mirveyor was read on “ the works required for permanently completing the tvlune of the streets iu the City,” to which are attached three separate estimates for work of a similar character to that now usually done, viz, channels of houlder, pitching without endwise cubes, and footpaths asphalted only three feet wide. To complete the streets on'the economical principles now adopted would cosc 1,136,880, thus distributed : South Ward £22,295 High „ 48,118 Bell „ 23,565 Leith „ 42,902 But if thought advisable to make use of the more expensive class of work the increase ou that amount would be 166,385, thus arrived at-endwise c.ibes to chan els, asphalting paths to ten leet wide, L 29,183 ; and substitution of pitched boulder channels, *25 000. Paving the roadways or flagging the footpaths Air Mirams considers too costly for general adopti n, as to pave the main road alone would coat nearly 130,000. whim to flig the footpaths throughout the City would cost about a quarter of a million, >lr Mirams then proceeds to discuss the Items in the schedules, under which the expenditure is ranged. Formation: It is generally known by the Council that the principal streets now requiring formation are on the hill sides, and are of the most difficult and exy ■,,tuve character, the difficulties consisting in the fact that it is generally impossible to obtain anything like workable gradients, and that, Any imprbvements effected can only be at the cost of heavy cutting and consequent gre it. injury to properties. In order to lay the present figures before the Council with due regard to accuracy, I have carefully surveyed each sacet apd laid down the best permanent grad ; c.-t. It may be that the heavy cuttings requiiod and thp difficulty of disposing of the excavated material will necessitate a great modification both as to depths and widths of the cuttings, but as my instructions are to state the cost of permanent work I have deemed it proper to show the best engineering lines, although iu many cases I should not at the present time be prepared to recommend such heavy undertakings. In some instances to bring streets in regular gradients would shut up all access to properties which are new reached by zigzag tracks, not nearly so steep as the finished surface, would be. The work to be done being chiefly cutting, the disposal of the material wt ; ! -iso demand serious consideration, and may g-eatiy affect the price of the work. Where low-lying sections are adjacont to the streets to be lowered, I have estimated the cost on the supposition that by filling up these sections the surplus material might be ®kould it be otherwise, the cost wiUhe-propertmnately increased by the length of the lead required. As few of the streets to be dealt with are leading thoroulHfarfes, there will be the more inducement to consult the wishes of proprietors before anything is done as their co-operation would greatly facilitate the work, especially _ in the matter of sloping embankments on private properties; and the plane ar<? studied, it will be apparent that little can be done without that cp-opera-turn. The total cost of formation I have put down at L 65,600. Where streets require only metalling, no sum has been alloted l fn ’ and *t * s assuttl ®d that they will be formed from material excavated from some adjoining street. The total cost of metal--I!is 18 L2Q.277, calculated at the price of ma-chuie-brqkeu metal. Hand broken metal supplied by contract would cost L 8 000 more. This is an item in which the City is sadly deficient, and the one on which, in my Judgment, the greatest expenditure is requ.ivd, first, to metal i the streets already kerbed and channelled a proper coat of metal, and second, to give to those streets which have been metalled for some years without any further repairs to speak of. A. stone-crusher in each ward w the only effectual way of meeting the pressing requirement, The Council will remember that the more streets completed the greater is the yearly maintenance to be provided for, and in my •pinion any street of sufficient ittiportance to be kerbed and channelled is of sufficient importance to be properly metalled out to full Vidtq, Kerbing; This item has been kept separate, and the cost of it (L 28,531), is borne by the owners of property. Although- contract prices range somewhat under the sum charged to proprietors, there is no gaja tq the Corporation, as reserves, crossings,’ quadrants of streets, &c., must be paid for out i funds. In practice, it is found Ten a eveT y 1*7,000 expended in keibing only L6OOO can be recovered; therefore, as £fi,ooo divided by 3s equals L 7.000 divided by 3s 6d, the actual cost equals actual return. Channelling and asphalte } The channels, except for the principal streets, hj: < been estimated to be constructed of boulders, from the ( Water of Leith, the cost of this being L 20,059. At the present time the river would not furnish the quantity of material required; but I assume that as the work progresses year after year recurring floods will bringdown the requisite stones. Were it otherwise, pitched channels at four times the cost, would have to be substituted. There are, of course, many improvements beyond those to street surfaces which will be made sooner or lat-• such as permanent of f° Ver Vliiduct ». substitution of flags for asphalte in the principal thoroughfares, substitution of 12in. for (Jin kerbiL bfSdSSrS aU of which “uft ~, add d ?° t J ie totals here enumerated; but as i t ery estimate for these would necessarily be approximate, and they are not called for in the 1 esolution, I simply refer to them as proper to i the question. .