STREET MAKING.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 259, 30 October 1913, Page 4

STREET MAKING.

WHAT STANLEY STREET COST.

CITY ENGINEER'S REPORT.

At the last meeting of the City Council there was a somewhat warm discussion concerning the Council's policy of road making. Stanley Street was the thoroughfare over which the trouble arose, councillors maintaining that while the original estimate for putting down this street in tarred macadam was given at £2,(j00, the cost had worked out at something like £5,000, since £1,000 would have to be added to the actual cost as representing the value of inetai taken from Customs Street and used on .Stanley Street. Objection was raised that if this were so, other smaller streets would receive no expenditure at all. The outcome of the discussion was a motion requesting the City Engineer to supply a detailed report, indicating what it actually cost per square yard to put down Stanley Street in tarred macadam.

Mr. Bush's report will be presented to the Council at its meeting to-night. He points out the first work authorised was the kerbing and channelling of the street for a distance of l,5GQft, with a foundation of Oin packed rubble, completed with a 6in coat of metal, tarred and sanded, the price for which was £2,600. Subsequently the Council decided to have the work done in tarred macadam, at an additional cost of £850, making a total cost of £3,450. The actual net cost of the work was £4.055. Practically the whole of the difference was accounted for by the extra cost of material used to bring the existing surface of the road up to the proper level.

The actual expenditure split up as nearly as possible under the same headings was as follows: — £ s. d. Kerblnp ami channelllnc 4"4 12 D TiK-rri] raa.-3d.ini laid on roariw.iy 1,209 6 3 Tarries and san.linc -J\:i S 10 Cesspits and ronnertlotra SSI S 7 'Crossings 405 4 :i Fonn<]u tions. «*cirt;ipt* ( itnd Tolling run ii 8 Footpath formation, muteri:il. tarrins unci sanding r...-jtK) square yards .iriO 10 31 RflLjinrp of iimount, in wapes . . r>fiT — 1 RnJ;\u<"C of ;iinount. for osrtajjc 11*J (> 4 Survey and plans Hi 0 11 Limiting. plaai. and miscellaneous 23 4 0 Total f 4.355 6 0 From the above statement it will be seen that the materials, rolling, cartape, etc., in connection with the foundation exceeded the original estimate by a little over £300, there being between 5.000 and 6.000 yards of hard material put on the road before the tarred macadam. The actual quantity of old metal carted on to the jnb." continues Mr. Bush, in his report, "was 1,314 yards, the value of which was very small, owing to it being taken just as it was excavated, including dust and rubbish that might be in it. The actual tarred macadam work was carried gut within the estimate, and, as will be seen, did not cost more than 3/5. including the tarring and sanding, or, deducting that, approximately, 2/H1 .-inoluwyfl of everything. In the report furnished by mc "to the Council in xTovember, 1910. I estimated the cost of doing Stanley Street in ordinary macadam at £3.600, and Domain Street at £1,100. or a total cost of £4,700, a figure which will not, I anticipate, be exceeded by 10 per cent when the whole work is completed, and, in place of ordinary macadam, the street has been coated with tarred macadam. It will therefore be seen that, as far as the streets improvement loan is concerned the situation is not so serious as some might infer."