COSTLY HIGHWAYS.

Shannon News, 16 March 1928, Page 4

COSTLY HIGHWAYS.

COUNCIL’S REQUEST TO BOARD

TO ACCEPT BURDEN OF OVEREXPENDITURE.

QUANTITY SURVEY TO BE

CARRIED OUT,

The excessive cost of the Main Highway construction between Waikanae and Otaki Bridge was again under review on Saturday, by the Horowhenua County Council and in consequence of an official communication it was decided to allow the County’s acting Engineer (Mr A. R. Callander) sufficient time clear of other duties to enable him to procure all the data that can be collected, for the information of the Highways Board, whose assistance to overcome the financial difficulty is being sought by the Council., TWO SECTIONS CONTRASTED. The. District Engineer (Mr R. 11. P. Ronayne) wrote, with reference to the resolution passed by No. 9 District Highways Council, asking that the Main Highways Board should provide all. the excess expenditure above the estimates on a free basis, and stated that the following was the position: — On January 18tli, Mr Tyndall visited Levin, when he looked into the matter with the'County officials as far as it was possible -with the infornfation available in the County office. If the statement submitted by the County Chairman to the District Highways Council, with regard, to the particular portions of the work on Which the excess expenditure took place, is accepted, the following statement shows the comparison of the estimates and actual costs to date: — . WAIKANAE-OTAKI BRIDGE SECTION. Comparison of Estimates and Alleged Costs. Earthwork—Estimated quantity, 23,200 c. yds; estimated cost, £2802. Quantity, not known; cost, £BBO2. Strengthening and widening foundation course —Estimate quantity, 7100 c. yds; estimated cost, £IBBO on road. Quantity, 15,176 c. yds; cost, £3476, plus transport and spreading. \ Metal for wearing course —Estimated quantity, 13,490 c. yds; estimated cost, £5813 on road. Quantity, 17,469 c. cost, £BI4B, plus transport and spreading. Culverts —Estimated cost, £4OO. Cost £lllO.

MANAKAU STREAM ,TO LEVIN. Eor the sake of comparison the following statement shows the relation between the estimates, quantities and costs on the section ■ from Manakau Stream to Levin: — >

Strengthening and widening foundation course —Estimated quantity, 7000 c. yds.; estimated cost, £2275 on road. Quantity, 9146-J c. yds.; cost,, £1756 plus transport and spreading. Metal for wearing course—Estimated quantity, 9500 <y. yds.; estimated cost, £4375 on road. Quantity, 9284 Jc. yds.; cost, ‘£2629 plus .transport and spreading- . “With reference to the WaikanaeOtaki Bridge section,’the District Engineer continued, “the earthwork shows such an enormous increase over the estimates that the Main Highways Board desires further information to be obtained. It is suggested that, a survey be made of the earthwork as carried out, so that the actual quanti - ties may be checked. It is also desired, that the original theoretical quantities as shown on the plans should be checked. *

‘'lt will be noted that on the Wai-kanae-Otaki Bridge section there .has been already charged up 4000 c.. yds. of wearing course metal over and above the theoretical quantities. When one compares .the actual and theoretical quantities of metal for the wearing course on the Manakau stream —Levin 'section, and also when one takes into 'consideration the methods of construction adopted for the wearing course, it is very to understand how such an excess of material could be charged up, especially in view of the fact that the work'is not yet finished. “There is still a large amount of wearing course metal and chips in stock piles distributed along the section, and the Board desired that these stock piles should be measured up. An attempt should also be made to ascertain the exact amount of wearing course metal used in the .portion of the road on the Waikanae-Otaki Bridge section already surfaced. “The Board also requests that the County be called upon to furnish as much information as possible on the excess quantities and expenditure disclosed in the above tabulations.

“Before the Board consider the suggestion that its subsidy ba increased 10 cover the excess expenditure, it is necessary that the whole of the estimates for the work still to be carried out on the Main Highways in the Horowhenua County, should be thoroughly reviewed by your County. Amended estimates to complete the whole programme should then be submitted in detail to this office.

“In the light of the experience with the costs of the work in the past, you can understand that this procedure is most necessary.”

STATEMENT BY THE CHAIKMAN

Summarising the position, the chairman (Mr G. A. Monk) said the Council had set out with a certain estimate which, it, had been suggested, would complete the whole of the Main Highway in the County. It had been proved to them beyond doubt that that estimate of the cost was nothing like what would be required to complete the work. The Council then had to take into consideration what it was going in the future. Some time in November last he wrote a letter to thfe chairman of the District Council—unauthorised by this Council at the time, but later ratified —with respect to the position as it affected this county in connection with the then proposed petrol tax. It was suggested in that let-

ter, seeing* that it was proposed to make the user pay—which was a fair thing as far as the maintenance of the main road wr concerned —that this should also apply in connection with construction; that the ratepayers had committed themselves to a certain expenditure, which had been expected to cover the whole of the construction. Seeing that this expenditure did not cover the cost, the Council took the first opportunity of asking the Board to consider the question of whether the user, through the .Board, should not foot the bill for the whole cost of construction beyond that authorised by the loan sanctioned by the ratepayers. The matter was brought to a head by the huge expenditure in the Te Horo riding. He had had figures submitted to him by the. Engineer, which he sent to the District Council and which went on to the Board. He‘could only say that he used those figures as figures that were supplied to him, and he had ev-. ery reason to believe that they were substantially correct. The Board had now asked this Council to justify those figures by a field survey of the work that would be completed during the coming week. A re-survey of the whole length of the Te Horo riding would have to be made and compared wjth the plans submitted to the Board, to show them where the extra expenditure had been brought about. EARTHWORK UNDER-ESTIMATED. These were two matters which were conclusive: — Firstly, the amount of earthwork was under-estimated very much. , Secondly, the cost of shifting it was also very much under-estimated. The Council had to show to the Board the. amount of extra material that was put in, and then show them that the estimates submitted to them for the shifting, of that earth-work were very much below what the actual cost had proved. ESTIMATE EOR SHIFTING REDUCED. In the original report regarding that length of road, it was estimated that the earth-work would cost 3s 4d a yard to shift. When the engineering survey was made and it was found that 'more material would be required, so that the cost would not'be any greater the estimate of the cost of shifting the Muff was reduced —in some cases from 3s 4d to 2s lOd, and in another case to Is 6d. The Council. had proved conclusively that that was much below the actual cost of shifting the stuff. COST OF STRENGTHENING MATERIAL. , For another'.thing, the amount of strengthening material used on that road Avas a great deal more than Avas expected, and the cost of shifting it was more- than was estimated. The estimate on one length Avas 6s a yard to put the material through. the crusher and on the road. The contract, price for crushing and carting ivas (is 6d, and then it had to be spread. That avus naturally the cheapest length to do. Probably the other metal cost 30 per cent, more to put on. The over-expen-diture in the Te Horo riding Avould, in a lesser degree, occur in the Otaki riding. , ' , TIME TO TAKE STOCK.

“More than ever is it forced on me,” the chairman continued, “that we have now got'to take stock. That is to say, that before any other work is completed or begun —with the exception of certain work which must be done on the Otaki length to complete it, and the works in and Makerua to complete next season—before any more work is started, we must take stock, and I tiling we have co confer with the Board. We are absolutely certain that we are going to be a long way behind as regards the amount of money required for our work. The ratepayers cannot stand any further burden. The burden up to what it cost for maintenance is sound economically, but beyond that we are not prepared to ask our ratepayers t« go. We must now take stock and place the whole position before the Highways Board. With that in view, I took th s before the District Council. The Board is asking us for certain information. Engineer Tyndall impressed one thing on me. He S said, ‘You have got this before the Board. You want a definite reply to your request, and before that reply can be given I, want this information.’ He said, ‘I have got so far, but I must have this further information. THE COUNCIL’S LESSON. .

“I would like to impress on councillors what he said—the necessity of making this urgent, If we are to expect the Highways Board to consider this matter, w T e must be prepared to give all the information we can regarding cost and material. We must admit Jiat we went on. for a considerable period without this information, which we should have had. We have learnt our lesson. If we had had that information, the job might not have cost much less, but we would have known where we were before w T e did, and could have supplied this information much more readily. Mr Callander concludes that, with the plans in his possession and a fortnight’s field work, he will bo able to arrive at a conclusion and give something definite as to the extra material used; and when we know that we can say that, instead of coasting 2s lOd a yard, it cost 5s 10d —or whatever the ease may be —and give them that definite information. I urge the Council to agree to Mr Callander being practically released from all except the most urgent work at present and allowed- to go on with that and get the information ready at the earliest date possible. GENERAL ESTIMATES MAY EE LATE. “There are two or three matters that make it awkward,” the chairman added. “We have in view the'question of preparing our estimates for the coming year. I feel that, although preliminary work may be done in connection with -that, nothing definite should be done until Mr Brewster takes over the duties of County Engineer. I can go over the ridings with him and discuss the merits or demerits of our various roads. Though this course may make the estimates a month late, it places us in

a more satisfactory position. From my point of view and that of the Council, seeing the situation that has arisen, I think this is the most urgent thing we have in the County to-day; and there are minor matters that can he held over for a month while this is being attended to. ‘THE USER'S LIABILITY.

“I believe that the Board rceognise —and recognise sympathetically—that our road lias cost a good deal more than we anticipated. I think they also recognise that the user is justified' in being called on, over and above what the ratepayer ought to pay. The ratep'ay er is loaded up to the limit. Whilst we are giving this good road it has not proved itself a relief to the rates. Probably not more thau 20 per cent, of the use of that road is by the ratepayers, while 80 per cent, or more is due to through traffic. The main thing 1 have to place before you is the urgency of allowing Mr Callander to go on with this work. He says he would probably want two men in the field, and he thinks it could be completed in two or three weeks. I have suggested to him 'that the over-expenditure from the Otaki bridge northwards will be known and can be taken from the 1 books. We are then asked to state what we expect the balance of our work in view will cost to complete. All I can say is’this: I do not think we should call ion Mr Callander to give us an estimate foi that, but we could submit to the Board that if 20 or 30 miles of road have cos! 20 to 50 per cent, more than the estimate, we can definitely conclude that the. balance is going to cost that much more too. If they want any definite figures oil that, we shall probably have to wait till the new engineer takes charge. The position today is in our hands. That is to say, they are asking for information. I think we should assist them all we can in supplying that. There, is the question, how much the Board are prepared to find in excess of the estimate. Our request is that they find the whole of the money in excess of the estimate. I do not think the Board or anyone else expects that our loading scheme is going to be held up, but it must be unless we can* arrive at a definite conclusion as to who is to foot the bill for the future cost.

Cr. McLeavey: The work will be completed down there this coming week? The Chairman: Yes. They ask us to measure up certain quantities or material. That material will be bn the road. We have had to crush more material. There is another point in connection with it. It is suggested that actually more material has been charged than was necessary to do the work. All we can. say is that the measurements were apparently wrong, of the .material''that went out. It does not alter the cost; the cost per yard was more; it has not gone, anywhere else—it has gone.on to that road, it has been paid for at less per yard than if the full quantity had been there. Apparently the lorries have not carted the amount that was expected to be in each lorry as it was taken out of the bins. Mr. Tyndall thought that if we allowed one-third, it was fair. Probably, due to the rolling, it is over the 18ft width in places; shoulders have been crushed-outA The men do not see, when putting this down, whether It ii' 18 feet; they go.from shoulder to slioui der. i The curves account for more than 18ft,’ of course. The main thing-the Board want to know is whether much more stuff ,was used in that road than was estimated, and if it cost more, and why. We know definitely that it has cost more. We have to represent to them why. I can see why—because the stuff was very much under-estimat-ed. It is with a view of expediting a reply and giving us an opportunity of getting somewhere with the Board that I make the representation to you that I do now with regard to the urgency of the matter. CONTRIBUTORY FACTORS.

Cr. Jensen said he thought that Mr Callander should have the instrucfon to prepare the report for the Board. Some points would be difficult to ''arrive'' at, as, for instance, the corners that were done by day work. It seemed aisc that in parts of this road there was perhaps more shrinkage than could bt got at now. The Chairman: We shall have to al low for that.

Cr. Jensen said- it would be very hard to estimate the . shrinkage wheit the fillings had \been put out on the swamp portion. Then there was th. amount of metal that had been roliea about on the road and turned into dust; that had all disappeared. It wa e very coarse gravel on the whole length there, and before the road was ready lor filling a great quantity of it was in pebbles. “I take it that in many cases there has been more than half e: it lost,” Cr. Jensen added. “If we are going to make an allowance for this, it will be purely guess work.” The Chairman: I think you can allow a percentage.

Cr. Jensen: We shall have to try to make our own case good as well as being as accurate as possible.

The Chairman: I think that with a survey and levels we can get information that will be substantially correct. Cr. Jensen: If the road had been blinded as I suggested before, we would not have had this same amount of waste in the metal. The shrinkage in the swamp was a thing we could not avoid. That was what we wanted to take place, because without it we would not have had it consolidated.

Referring to the work of compiling ■information for the Board, the chairman said there was a plan of the whole scheme, and he knew exactly what the old road was like. If the levels were taken now, they would know what had been put on, but the trouble was to discriminate as to what was metal and what was filling. ACTING ENGINEER TO INVESTIGATE. On the motion of Cr. Ryder, seconded by Cr. Bryant, the chairman was authorised to instruct the Acting Engineer to secure the information for the Highways Board as soon as possible, It was agreed that in the meantime Mr Callander should be relieved from minor duties as far as practicable. The Coun-

ty Clerk was directed to write to the Highways Board intimating that the work, of investigation is being carried out.