Laying asphalt binder (for repairs and miscellaneous work, cuts, etc.), per cubic foot... Laying sheet-asphalt surface for repairs, etc., within the space required by law to be kept in repair by street railway companies.... - per cubic foot.. Laying asphalt binder for repairs, etc., within the space required by law to be kept in repair by street railway companies per cubic foot.. $0.43 .63 .48 The types of roadway pavements laid during the year were the same as in past years, sheet asphalt and asphalt block, with a limited amount of asphaltic macadam. About $150,000 was spent on this last-named class of work. The repair of sheet-asphalt pavements by use of the heater method was continued, about 53,000 square yards being thus repaired during the year. New types of pavements were used during the year as follows: A 2-inch asphalt-block pavement was laid on a concrete base on Maine Avenue between Third and Four-and-a-half Streets, instead of the usual 5-inch asphalt-block pavement laid on a gravel base, and a 6-inch concrete roadway, coated with bitumen, was laid on Michigan Avenue between First Street east and the Washington City Reservoir. While these pavements have been down but a short time, good results are anticipated from them. Table showing square yards and mileage of roadway pavements to June 30, 1912. 1 Includes gutters and pavements adjacent to street railway tracks. The total mileage of streets in the District of Columbia is 581. RESURFACING WORN-OUT PAVEMENTS. The sum of $425,000 was appropriated for resurfacing and repairs to improved roadway pavements. This was an increase of $25,000 over the appropriation for the preceding year. The area of sheet asphalt pavements in the District of Columbia is about 3,343,978 square yards, and of asphalt block 648,368 square yards, which is probably a greater area than any other city in the world with the population of the District of Columbia. During the fiscal year 1912, 183,770 square yards of old pavement were replaced, as compared with 183,000 square yards replaced during the preceding fiscal year. It is believed that the great area of asphalt pavement can be most economically maintained if the average age be retained at about eleven years. This would mean a resurfacing of about one-twentysecond of the entire area in sheet asphalt surface annually. An appropriation of $330,000 for resurfacing and repairs will, it is calculated, after other pavements are maintained, permit the resurfacing of an amount annually that will retain at its present average life the entire amount of street surface that is now in sheet asphalt. Inasmuch as the average age of all sheet asphalt pavements is still in excess of 11 years, an amount is asked for the fiscal year 1914 in excess of $330,000; that is to say, $390,000. The expenditure of this amount will effect a further reduction in the average age of the sheet asphalt pavements. The contract for resurfacing and repairing sheet asphalt pavements was a two-year contract, which expires July 1, 1913. It has been the policy for a number of years to do all of this work of resurfacing and repairs by contract, but in the District appropriation act for the fiscal year 1913 the commissioners were authorized to purchase a portable asphalt plant, at a cost of not to exceed $7,500, and to operate the plant under their immediate direction in doing such work of repairs to asphalt pavements as in their judgment might be economically performed by the use of the plant. This plant has been purchased and will be operated during the present fiscal year in doing all work of repairs, leaving only the resurfacing work to be done under contract. When the permanent municipal asphalt plant, hereinafter referred to, is authorized by Congress, and established, the commissioners believe that it will be unnecessary to do any of the resurfacing or repair work by contract, as they believe it can be more economically performed by operating these asphalt plants under their immediate direction. The portable plant above referred to is excellently adapted to the production of a one-course asphaltic macadam surface for streets already macadamized. Legislation is earnestly desired which will remove any limitation from the useful operation of this plant. A large proportion of the older asphalt-block pavements laid on gravel base are in bad condition, due to local settlements of the foundation. On many of these pavements practically nothing has been expended for maintenance for a period of 10 or 15 years. A systematic repair of these pavements was commenced during this year and the sum of $24,000 has been spent on this work. An expenditure of a like amount for the next two years will put these pavements in first-class condition. MUNICIPAL ASPHALT PLANT. In their estimates to Congress for the fiscal year 1913, the commissioners asked authority to establish in the District of Columbia a municipal asphalt plant, to be located on a site on the river front between Thirteenth and Fourteenth Streets SW. The appropriation was not made, but in lieu thereof the sum of $5,000 was appropriated to enable the commissioners to make a thorough investigation of the desirability and cost of establishing such a plant, with directions to report to Congress at the beginning of its next session in December, 1913. Immediately after the passage of this act the commissioners employed Mr. D. E. McComb, an expert in such matters, to make the investigation, and it is now in progress. The report of the results thereof will be made early in the next session of Congress. SIDEWALKS AND ALLEYS. Two hundred and fifteen thousand dollars was spent for paving sidewalks and alleys in all parts of the District of Columbia. Sidewalks are constructed of cement and the work is done under contract. Alleys are paved with vitrified or asphalt block and the work is done by day labor. The prices paid under contract for laying cement sidewalks during the fiscal year 1912 were as follows: For large jobs adjoining paved streets... .per square yard.. $0.9675 For large jobs adjoining unpaved streets and for all small jobs, per square yard. 1. 20 For the present fiscal year (1913), the prices are as follows: For large jobs adjoining paved streets.... .per square yard.. $0.96 For large jobs adjoining unpaved streets and for all small jobs, per square yard. 1.20 One-half of the cost of laying sidewalks is assessed against the abutting property, and ordinarily the commissioners await a petition from the owners of more than one-half of the frontage along a block before ordering the work; an exception is, however, made where a walk becomes dangerous; in such cases the commissioners order the work done without waiting for a petition. The law requires the commissioners to advertise for two weeks their intention to lay sidewalks and curb and to pave alleys, and after a hearing to order the work done when, in their opinion, it is necessary for the public safety, health, comfort, and convenience. The demand for laying sidewalks and paving alleys is quite constant. During the year about 66,000 square yards of sidewalks and about 46,500 square yards of alley pavement were laid. Prior to the fiscal year 1912 all moneys received from assessments for paving sidewalks and alleys were repaid to the appropriation for the current year in which they were collected, and augmented the appropriation so as to permit a larger amount to be expended than was actually appropriated for the year. By a provision contained in the District appropriation act for the fiscal year 1912, however, all collections from assessments are required to be paid into the Treasury. SUBURBAN ROADS AND STREETS. The appropriations made for the construction and repair of suburban roads and streets aggregated $228,100, of which $140,000 was for repairs and the balance for road construction. Approximately $15,000 was expended during the year for oiling and tarring roads. The use of asphaltic macadam in the repair of old roads and constructing new roads was one of the features of the year's work. Asphaltic macadam by the penetration method in new construction and repair required the use of 2 gallons of material per square yard, at a cost varying from 18 to 20 cents per square yard above that of ordinary macadam. Asphaltic macadam by the mixing method was used in constructing roadways, at a cost of 98 cents per square yard for a 2-inch layer rolled in place. On one street, Michigan Avenue, west of First Street, a concrete base was laid which was covered with a coating of asphaltic oil on one part and a coating of tar on another, and the cost of this work, including a 6-inch concrete base with a thin bituminous covering, was about 80 cents per square yard. The use of road oils and various surface treatments was continued for dust laying and road preservation. The cost of treatments with oil or tarvia B, including the cleaning and sand covering, varied from 1 to 3 cents per square yard of surface treated. It is proposed that some of the most heavily traveled macadam roads leading out of the city, and in the built-up section, adjacent to the city limits, upon which work of additional repair has become expensive and burdensome, be resurfaced with asphaltic macadam. BRIDGES. The work of stiffening and strengthening the Calvert Street Bridge over Rock Creek was completed August 24, 1911. This work not only rendered this bridge much safer, but reduced the vibrations by a marked degree. In connection with the work, the roadway width of 39 feet with two 6-foot sidewalks was reduced to a roadway width of 26 feet with two 6-foot 10-inch sidewalks, so as to bring the vehicular travel inside of the truss line, and a new flooring of dressed lumber was laid. It is believed that the bridge is now safe for use and no new bridge will be needed until the growth of the city beyond Rock Creek shall require a bridge with a wider roadway. Plans have been completed for the construction of a bridge over Rock Creek on the line of Q Street, but owing to the delay in acquiring the land necessary for approaches the work of construction has not yet been begun. This bridge is estimated to cost $275,000, and an appropriation for its complete construction has been included in the estimates for the next fiscal year. Contract was made for four bronze buffaloes, to be placed two on either side of the bridge approach. The commissioners have again included in their estimates for the next fiscal year an item for constructing a bridge across Rock Creek on the line of Pennsylvania Avenue, in connection with which it is proposed to widen Pennsylvania Avenue on both sides of the creek so as to provide a better means of communication with that part of the city formerly known as Georgetown. STREET RAILWAYS. On February 1, 1912, the Senate adopted the following resolution: Resolved, That the Commissioners of the District of Columbia are hereby directed to communicate to the Senate, at as early a date as practicable, their views as to the necessity of establishing additional street car lines in the District, the routes over which they should be built, and whether they should be extensions of the existing lines or independent companies, with blue prints accompanying. In response to this resolution the commissioners submitted a report to the Senate, under date of March 20, 1912, in which they recommended that Congress: First. Facilitate the consolidation of all street railway lines within the District, so that they shall be under one management and control. Second. Refuse charters to new companies which propose to build extensions within the District. Third. Give consideration to the passage of a law providing that street railway lines constructed in the outlying sections shall be covered wholly or in part by assessments levied on abutting property benefited. Fourth. Authorize and require the building of certain street railway extensions, which they believe to be immediately desirable, as follows: (a) On Eighteenth Street west, from G Street southward to and into Potomac Park; (b) On Seventeenth Street west from Pennsylvania Avenue to U Street; (c) on Kennedy Street NW., from Fourteenth Street to and into Rock Creek Park; (d) on L Street south from Four-and-a-half Street west to Eleventh Street east; (e) from the north end of the Connecticut Avenue Bridge by meandering line to the western end of Massachusetts Avenue; (f) from the present terminus of the Mount Pleasant line to Argyle Terrace, mostly via Eighteenth Street NW.; (g) on Fourteenth and Fifteenth Streets NË., from H Street to East Capitol Street; and on C and D Streets NE., from Thirteenth to Fifteenth Streets; (h) on M Street NW., from Twenty-sixth Street to New Jersey Avenue. The following legislation referring to street railways was contained in the District appropriation act, approved June 26, 1912. Hereafter every street railway company in the District of Columbia shall keep its tracks and the spaces between and for a distance of two feet outside thereof at the crossings of the several streets which intersect their railroads, at all times free from snow and ice, and shall not spoil or deposit the same in such location and quantity as to impede or hinder traffic. And in the event of any street railway company failing and refusing to comply with this act, the necessary work may be done by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, in their discretion, after notice to said company, the cost to be paid from the appropriation available for cleaning snow and ice from streets, sidewalks, crosswalks, and gutters and collected from such street railway company in the manner provided for in section five of an Act providing a permanent form of government for the District of Columbia, approved June eleventh, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, and shall be deposited to the credit of the appropriation for the fiscal year in which it was collected. LAW TO REGULATE PUBLIC UTILITIES. The commissioners again recommend to Congress the enactment of a law to regulate the public utility corporations in the District of Columbia. A bill for this purpose (S. 3812, 62d Cong. 2d Sess.), passed the Senate on April 20, 1912, and is pending before the House of Representatives. This bill provides for making the Commissioners of the District of Columbia a public utilities commission, as an additional and superadded power to their powers and duties as Commissioners of the District of Columbia. The necessity of the establishment of such a commission is very urgent. There are many questions involved in the operation of public utilities in the District of Columbia which need to be handled by such a commission. These public utilities include street railways, gas and electric companies, and telephone and telegraph corporations. Among the matters affecting these public utilities which should be regulated by such a commission are the question of valuation of plant and properties, with a view to establishing rates based on proper earnings; joint use of trackage; uniform system of accounting; standards of measurement; testing of appliances, and other similar matters all with a view to securing fairness as between the public utility corporations and the public, and insuring to the latter reasonable service at reasonable cost. At present there is no body vested with power and authority to investigate such matters, to make necessary rules and regulations, and to see to their enforcement. As a consequence there is no data to show whether rates charged for service are excessive, whether the earnings are based on proper capitalization, whether capital stock is not watered, whether bonds have not been issued in excess of necessary requirements, whether the cor |