Graveling on New Road, High water Fill and

Connection With No. 7 Finished Monday Night.

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27,758.5 CUBIC YARDS

SURFACING

MATERIAL

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One of the Best Rural Thoroughfares in This Section of the State.

Creditable Work.

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E. J. McCubrey, resident engineer, and his office assistants are now at work completing the final chapter in connection with the construction of Trunk Highway No. 15, the high water fill and the connecting road with the old Trunk Highway No. 7 in Nicollet county, just across the river from New Ulm. Actual construction work on these projects was finished when the last truck load of gravel was dumped and spread on the connecting road at 10 o’clock, Monday night.

Excellent Thoroughfare.

When the State Highway department decided to establish a new route for Trunk Highway No. 15 between New Ulm and Klossner, by cutting a road through the intervening hills and ravines, many people of New Ulm and vicinity viewed this decision as impracticable, believing that a gross mistake had been made in selecting that route. But the result has proven vastly different, and the new highway is one of the best rural thoroughfares in this section of the state. The work has been so creditably done that all those connected with the enterprise can well feel proud of their accomplishment.

Cost About $130,000.

While the total cost of the two projects cannot be determined as yet, due to the fact that several changes were made in grading work, still it is estimated at approximately $130,000. This amount includes the cost of grading, culverts and graveling on the 10.7 miles of highway starting at the north end of the high water fill across the Minnesota river at New Ulm and running to the Nicollet county line about one mile north of Lafayette village, as well as the 2.9 miles of connecting road with No. 7, and a 30-foot ‘bridge near Klossner.

27,758.5 Cubic Yards.

It required a total of 27,758.5 cubic yards of gravel as surfacing material the three-mile stretch from the Nicollet county line to the south side of Sand lake, three miles south of Winthrop, the high water fill and the No.7 connecting road. Grading of the Lafayette-Sand Lake stretch was handled out of Winthrop, but the graveling was done under supervision of Engineer MeCubrey of this city. The graveling cost $11,053.98, exclusive of grading. The cost of grading that section of No. 15 between the bottom and the top of the hill is estimated at $34,821.99, while tie same work on the section between the hilltop and $42,053.61.

Many Culverts Necessary.

Along Trunk Highway No. 15, from the top of the hill to Lafayette village, a total of seven culverts were placed at a combined cost of $5,364.80. The contract price for the construction of a 30-foot concrete bridge near Klossner was $5,500. Four large culverts have been put in along the road leading from the bottom to the top of the hill, and for this work the contractors have thus far received an aggregate of $15,458, the state retaining a certain percentage as a guarantee.These water openings were made necessary by the fact that the road crosses the ravine four times within a distance of 3,500 feet. A fifth culvert has been constructed at the foot of the hill. It is eight feet wide, four feet high and 83 feet long. The cost of this concrete tunnel is not included in the amount mentioned above. The four other culverts are 4x6x48,4x6x201, 4x6x233 and 6x5x160 feet in size, respectively. The first figure indicates the width, the second the height and the third the length of the structure.

Fine Quality of Gravel.

“The gravel surfacing material, which was obtained from a pit located on Broadway, between 13th and 14th South streets, was of extraordinary good quality,” said Engineer McCubrey to a Journal representative in telling about the work on the new highway. The material was hauled by truck to the project, after being elevated into the trucks by means of a belt conveyor, operated by a gasoline engine, to which the gravel was fed through a hopper by four-horse fresnos. At the point of deposit, a checker received the gravel and gave each driver credit for every load delivered. An eight-foot blade grader was used in spreading the gravel on the road as received.

Interesting Data.

State Project No.15-030-Total number of cubic yards placed, 18,-508.4; total number of cubic yard December 12, 1924; date of completion, February14,1925; actual number of days hauling, 45; total cost of graveling, $23,853.51.

State Project No. 15-030C–Total number of cubic yards placed, 4-850.1; total number of cubic yard miles hauled, 72,565.04; date started, January 7,1925; date completed, January 17,1925; total cost of graveling, $11,053.98.

State Project No. 7-028–Total number of cubic yards placed (approximately), 4,400; total number of cubic yard miles hauled (approximately), 11,499; date completed, February 16,10 p.m.

A cubic yard mile is the hauling of one cubic yard a distance of one mile. The price for hauling per yard per mile was 13.3 cents; the cost of loading and hauling the first mile was 31cents, and the price for screening was two cents per yard.

State Project No 15-030, starts at the north end of the high water fill across the Minnesota river and runs to the Nicollet county line, about one mile north of Lafayette village, a total distance of 10.7 miles.

State Project No. 15-030C extends from a point one mile north of Lafayette village to the south side of Sand lake, a distance of three miles.

State Project No. 7-028 includes the high water fill across the river and the connecting road to Trunk Highway No. 7, going to Courtland.

Brown County Journal,

February 20, 1925

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