Engineering Report on the Condition of CALIFORNIA STATE HIGHWAYS By J. B. LIPPINCOTT Organization The men engaged in this study of the roads are experienced engineers. All are technically trained. Mr. C. H. Richards, who is an associate in the engineering office of J. B. Lippincott, had charge of some of the heaviest construction work at the Los Angeles Aqueduct. He has built a number of paved roads in Southern California. He is a practical construction man. As the engineer in charge of the field work he has compiled the data as well as directed the details. He deserves much of the credit for what has been accomplished. Mr. E. E. East not only has had charge of the building of many of the Southern California State roads, but was maintenance officer for their upkeep. He has inspected and classified them for this report. Mr. J. B. Lippincott has had general supervision of this study. With him has been associated Prof. Chas. Derleth, Jr., Dean of the School of Civil Engineering at Berkeley. Prof. Derleth brings to this study years of highly trained observation and technical skill, as well as the experience of a practical construction enginéer. The engineering laboratories at Berkeley have been made available for these investigations through the courtesy of Prof. Derleth. Mr. Walter C. Howe, Consulting Highway Engineer of the firm of Howe & Peters, of San Francisco, has co-operated in reaching the general conclusions. Mr. Howe, in addition to his technical training as highway engineer, has had an extensive experience in municipal, county and State highway construction. He is the consulting engineer for the California State Automobile Association. Mr. Standish L. Mitchell, Secretary of the Automobile Club of Southern California, and Mr. C. E. McStay, Field Secretary, have assisted in this study by the collecting of data and contributory information. On July 29, 1920, a road conference was held under the auspices of the Automobile Club of Southern California, which was attended by representatives of the Northern Automobile Club and numerous county officials of Southern California, at which the general road program of the State and counties was outlined and the necessity of a general investigation was recognized. The following committees were appointed to assist in the work: Committee on Thickness and Width of Slab and Reinforcement. Charles Petit, County Engineer of Ventura County, Chairman. Chas. Derleth, Jr., Dean of Civil Engineering Department, University of California, Owen O'Neill, County Engineer of Santa Barbara County. Committee on Maintenance of Roads. Geo. L. Jones, Road Commissioner of Los Angeles County, Chairman. S. H. Finley, former Engineer of Orange County, now Supervisor. E. E. East, Road Engineer. Committee on Sub-Base. Robert Morton, Highway Engineer of San Diego County, Chairman. Lawrence Moye, County Engineer of Tulare County. Committee on Trucks and Truck Laws. David R. Faries, Attorney for Automobile Club of Southern California, Chairman. Watt Moreland, Truck Manufacturer. The reports of these various committees are attached hereto. The Southern California Automobile Club at the time of its organization for the study of the State highway problems in California, invited the Governor of the State to appoint some representative to co-operate with the Club. The following letter was sent to the Gov ernor: AUTOMOBILE CLUB OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Hon. Wm. D. Stephens, Sacramento, Calif. Dear Governor Stephens: August 6, 1920. Actuated by a desire to perform a valuable service to the motoring public and to all taxpayers of the State of California, the Automobile Club of Southern California and the California State Automobile Association have become engaged in a most exhaustive study of highways already constructed, both State and county, throughout the State. This engineering examination is under the supervision of our Consulting Engineer, Mr. J. B. Lippincott, in Southern California, and Mr. Howe, of the firm of Howe & Peters, of San Francisco, representing the California State Automobile Association, in Northern California. On July 29th a meeting was held in this city under the auspices of this organization for the purpose of a general discussion of the matter and outlining a plan of procedure, at which were present the county highway engineers of the Southern California counties, together with Messrs. Lippincott and Howe, and the engineering staff organized by Mr. Lippincott for the carrying on of this work. Prof. Derleth, Jr., head of the Engineering Department of the University of California, has agreed to serve in an advisory capacity and to supervise the necessary research work. It was particularly made clear to all present at this meeting that it was the intention of the two clubs to carry on this investigation entirely without prejudice or bias, and for the purpose of ascertaining the true condition of all highways throughout the State, and by the combined efforts of all parties interested in the investigation, to bring in an exhaustive report which we hope will be of real constructive value to the future road program, both State and county, of California. It was the unanimous desire of all present at this meeting that you be requested to detail a representative of the State Engineering Department to actively participate in the work outlined for this highway study, and we would be pleased to have this request duly considered by you and to have such an appointment made. For your information, Mr. Lippincott and our Field Secretary, Mr. McStay, have already discussed this matter informally with Mr. Darlington, Chairman of the State Highway Commission, prior to the above mentioned meeting. We would sincerely appreciate your early consideration of this request. The reply to this letter is as follows: Very truly yours, Secretary. CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY COMMISSION Los Angeles, Calif., Mr. Standish L. Mitchell, Secy., Automobile Club of Sou. Calif., My Dear Mr. Mitchell: Your letter of the 6th inst., addressed to Governor Stephens, has been referred by him to this Commission for reply. On June 24th the following telegram was sent by us to the Bureau of Public Roads: "The California Highway Commission believes that a complete study and report on the State Highway System of California should be made now by the field men and economists of the United States Bureau of Public Roads. An authoritative, impartial and comprehensive report on the California work, a project involving large expenditures and covering a period of nearly nine years, would be of great value both to California and the other States. Since that time, Mr. MacDonald, Chief of the Bureau, has accepted our invitation to have. an investigation made of the State Highway System of California and its expert engineers are now engaged in making a thorough and complete study of the highway work in all its various phases. In view of this situation we feel it would be rather an indelicate thing for us to participate in another investigation which is to be carried on at the same time and which is designed to cover practically the same ground. We wish to say again, however, that we will be very glad to furnish you complete data concerning the State highway work and are ready to put our own men to work compiling such data as you may require. In this fashion we will be able to assist you in a very practical way and hope you will not hesitate to call upon us for any information you may desire. Upon your request for such data or such information as you may desire, we will immediately have the same compiled or, if a conference is desired, we will arrange for such conference or conferences with the person or persons in our organization best fitted to give you the information you desire. Very truly yours, CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY COMMISSION. Arrangements have been made by the Automobile Club of Southern California for an audit of the accounts of the Highway Commission by the Tax Payers' League. This audit is now in progress but the results thereof are not now available (December 1st, 1920). The costs of construction and maintenance presented herewith are from data furnished by the California State Highway Commission. Fourteen per cent has been added to the figures showing orig. inal construction for overhead and incidentals. The percentage used by the Highway Commission for such charges on maintenance work is twenty per cent. HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA STATE HIGHWAYS The California Highway Commission The people of the State of California adopted the "State Highways Act" of March 22, 1909, providing for the issuance of bonds to the amount of $18,000,000 for the construction and acquisition of a system of State highways by the State Department of Engineering. The routes to be selected by the Department of Engineering and built so as to constitute a continuous highway system, north and south, traversing the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys and along the Pacific Coast by the most direct and practicable routes, connecting the county seats through which it passes and joining the centers of population, together with such branch roads as may be necessary to connect therewith the several county seats. The Department of Engineering consisted of an advisory board composed of the Governor as ex-officio member and chairman, the State Engineer, the General Superintendent of State Hospitals and the chairman of the State Board of Harbor Commissioners of San Francisco. The functions of this board were advisory. In 1911 the Legislature passed what is commonly known as the Chandler Act, which added three more members to the Department of Engineering. While the Chandler Act did not specifically so declare, yet it was tacitly understood at the time of its passage, that the three appointed members were to be chosen primarily for the purpose of actively carrying out the eighteen-million-dollar highway trust, and when appointed were named with their qualifications as such trustees in view. In August, 1911, the Advisory Board adopted an enabling resolution designating Messrs. Blaney, Towne and Darlington the three appointed members as an Executive Committee to be known as the California Highway Commission, and vesting in such committee the handling of the work of constructing and acquiring the State highway system under the bond issue of 1910. In the fall of 1911 the members of the commission, with the Highway Engineer, made a comprehensive tour of the State in order to obtain first hand impressions of the routes to be followed and the needs of the respective communities. They established seven division offices in different parts of the State, each in charge of a division engineer at Willits, Dunsmuir, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Fresno and Los Angeles. Actual road building operations were commenced in the summer of 1912. The Legislature of 1913 passed California's first comprehensive act for the registration of motor vehicles and the licensing of operators thereof. This act provided that one-half of the net proceeds should be devoted to the maintenance of State roads and highways. After it had become effective, the Advisory Board imposed upon the California Highway Commission the further duty of maintaining the State highways. In the year 1916 the people adopted the "State Highway Act of 1915" for a second State highway bond issue, in amount $15,000,000. The expenditure of the proceeds thereof was placed in charge of the California Highway Commission. Finally the Legislature of 1917 gave the California Highway Commission statutory recognition and a legal entity by an amendment of the Department of Engineering Law, providing that the three appointed members of the Advisory Board shall compose a subdivision of the Department of Engineering designated as the California Highway Commission, and expressly prescribing their powers and duties. This amendatory act also transferred all State roads, which had been constructed under special appropriations and which until 1917 had remained in charge of the State Engineer to the jurisdiction of the California Highway Commission. Thus the California Highway Commission ceased to be an executive committee of the Advisory Board and has become a statutory body in immediate control and supervision of all State road and highway activities of California. The organization chart on page 22 shows graphically how the departments of the commission function. The original eighteen millions were exhausted by January, 1917. The funds from the new bond issue could not be available under the act until after the beginning of the fiscal year, July, 1917. At a conference in January, 1917, participated in by all of the State officials concerned, a unanimous decision was reached that the highway work should proceed during the interim, that its cost would be defrayed by borrowing from the Motor Vehicle Fund, and that the State itself would guarantee the sale of not less than three millions of highway bonds when their advertisement and sale should be legal under the act. The first bond issue of $18,000,000 bearing four per cent interest was hard to market and of the total but $4,280,000 were sold publicly. The remainder, $13,720,000, was taken by various counties. The second issue of $15,000,000 bearing interest at four and one-half per cent seemed to find a ready market except when the Federal Capital Issues Committee was in operation. The third issue of $40,000,000, bearing interest at four and one-half per cent, has been difficult to market. The people in the November, 1920, elections increased the interest rate. Federal Aid Roads In 1916 Congress passed the Bankhead Act by which the United States co-operates with the several States in highway construction. The law was construed at first somewhat narrowly relative to the type of road which might receive aid from the government. Unless the road was used in the carriage of United States mail, it received little help. It is now understood that almost any main road, over which the mails are likely to go, will receive consideration. Of the total sum appropriated by this act, California is entitled to the following amounts:* To June 30, 1920, the State had received $568,000 from the Federal Government, and in the two months following received $389,000. In addition to the post road feature of the Bankhead Act, the law provides for another class of co-operative work in the national forests. Under Section 8 of this law, California is entitled to approximately $140,000 per year for ten years, beginning June 30, 1916. An important road which may benefit by the national forest co-operative money is in Mariposa County extending to El Portal, the gateway to Yosemite Valley. Work has also been started for opening the Angeles Forest Reserve under this co-operative act. State Roads The Legislature previous to 1917 passed each year special appropriations for the construction or improvement of roads, chiefly in the mountainous counties. The 1917 Legislature passed an act calling for survey and estimates of cost of such projects as had been presented to it as the committee thought worthy of investigation. These roads were for Southern California as follows: *From 1st Biennial Report. |