Page:California Highways and Public Works Journal Vols 8-9.djvu/38

 of Bakersfield and are now engaged in placing sand and gravel borders and oil-mixing same. It is hoped that this work will reduce the number of accidents on this road.

Hartman Construction Company was successful bidder for two miles of realignment and macadam surface on the Cholame Lateral between Wasco and Lost Hills. This work will be started at once and will eliminate two very dangerous right angle turns.

Force-Currigan & McLeod, Contractors, have completed grading and surfacing with oil-treated crushed gravel 11.5 miles of State Highway Route 57 from east city limits of Bakersfield to within one mile of the mouth of Kern Canyon on the Kern River road. A portion adjoining the city of Bakersfield was graded to a wide turnpike section in view of the fact that a considerable proportion of adjacent land is subdivided into lots and built into a residential section. The remainder of the route is a 24-foot roadbed with a 20-foot oil-treated surfacing. The easterly three miles has been changed radically from the former highway, the curvature has been radically reduced and about 0.5 mile of distance saved. Construction of a line change involved a large cut and fill each with a maximum depth and height of 70 feet, involving about 70,000 cubic yards. The resulting highway has caused much favorable comment.

Day labor forces under Foreman Milford are widening the roadway west of Lemoore and covering the adobe soil on the roadsides with a sand surface, which will remedy the slippery condition heretofore encountered after every rain.

The contract between Goodrich and Coppervale, Doveri & Company and J. A. Maddox, contractors, is proceeding. While the long dry spell this fall was a great boom to these contractors, they will be unable to complete their work this year under normal conditions. However, the job is in such condition that it will carry traffic without difficulty during the winter months as all of the newly graded road which will be used by has been surfaced.

Hein Brothers and Chittenden, who have a contract from Susanville to Milford, for surfacing and stockpiling screenings, are nearing completion of this contract. It is anticipated that with the weather holding good they will finish about January 10.

The contract for a line change immediately north of the Newhall Tunnel has been awarded to McCray Co. Normal progress is being made on this work. It is expected that this contract will be completed next June. The work of grading the Newhall Alternate Line between Tunnel Station and the Santa Clara River is completed. LeTourneau and Lindberg were the contractors. It consisted of grading a 46-foot roadbed, 8.6 miles long, and eliminates from this route the Newhall Tunnel and several dangerous curves in the vicinity of Newhall and Saugus. Work is to be started immediately on paving this section with Portland cement concrete, 30 feet wide.

The first contract on the La Canada-Mt. Wilson Highway for grading 2.6 miles of 40-foot roadbed was awarded to H. W. Rohl Company on August 14th. Rough grading is in progress on one and one-half miles.

A contract for oil mix shoulders between Calabasas and Conejo Summit has been awarded to the Southwest Paving Company. It is expected that this contract will be finished in April.

A. Teichert & Son, Contractors, have completed about half of the surfacing on their contract for widening and resurfacing with asphaltic concrete from Califa to the north county line.

The Valley Paving Company has completed the paving from Califa to Berenda.

The subway connection and wyes connecting with Route 32 are still to be paved. This work, together with that of A. Teichert & Son, adjoining, and the subway at Califa, will, when completed, furnish a modern, 20-foot highway free from grade crossings between Merced and Fresno.

Otto Parlier has the contract for the subway at Califa, which connects the above two jobs and his work will be completed shortly after the pavement is finished.

Marin County has been the scene of considerable highway activities during the past year. A very large sum of money has been expended in the reconstruction work along Route 1 (the Redwood Highway). Some of the more important jobs have been the reconstruction of the Point San Quentin Road from San Rafael to San Quentin, a distance of three miles, where the roadbed was raised to an elevation above high water and widened, a portion of it being constructed 40 feet wide. This new section affords the East Bay cities an adequate connection to the Redwood Highway.

In line with the Commission’s policy of reconstructing the state highway obviating the dangerous Corte Madera grade and the numerous small towns adjacent to the existing road, the contract awarded May, 1929, to Granfield Farrar & Carlin, is now practically completed in so far as the grading of the new way is concerned, which, by way of direction, extends very nearly in a straight line from Alto to San Rafael. This new aligned portion has not been opened to traffic, nor will it be, until the completion of the surfacing contract, which will be let in the near future.

Contracts have been recently awarded to:

1. Bids for the construction of an overhead crossing of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad at detour, about one-half mile south of Greenbrae, were recently received. 2. A second contract has been awarded to Fredrickson & Watson for the construction of an overhead crossing of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad’s main line tracks at California Park. Here an extensive structure is contemplated, including a long steel truss span with approach steel beam spans and timber trestles on pile and frame bents.

