The estimate of the cost of laying an asphalt pavement shown in Table 43 was prepared for this volume by a man of acknowledged ability and unquestioned integrity, who has had 15 to 20 years' experience in the administration of asphalt paving business in various cities, but who at the time of making this estimate had no financial or other interest in such matters. The estimate is for a city in which 20,000 square yards are laid in one year.
Of course the cost will vary slightly in different cities; but the estimates in Table 43 are intended to be fair averages. The figures for cost of materials and labor are averages of data from actual work, and include transportation and loss by tare,waste, etc. For example, while the actual quantity of asphalt in a square yard of pavement is about 32 pounds, 40 pounds must be purchased, since the tare (weight of barrels and of asphalt adhering to them) is 12i per cent; and the loss through evaporation, sedimentation, skimming and waste is 7 or 8 per cent more.
Not infrequently in recent years have prices been obtained considerably less than the estimate in Table 43. For example. during the years 1895-98, when the competition between the vari ous asphalt paving contractors was very sharp, bids were received in several widely separated cities as low as $1.40 to $1.50 for nom inally the same pavement as in Table 43. It should be stated. however, that the above were years of great industrial depression, and consequently wages were low and there was less paving in progress than usual. The asphalt paving contractors explain this discrepancy by saying that their plant and organization sub ject them to large fixed charges whether or not they do any work, and that therefore it is better to keep the men and plants at work at any price that leaves a little margin above actual cost of ma terials and labor. The asphalt paving contractors claim that con tracts have sometimes been taken at a loss to drive competitors from the field; and also claim that many of the smaller asphalt companies actually lost money in their business, and continued in the field only because they hoped to compel their more successful competitors to buy them out. It is further claimed that if the contractor is less careful of the quality of his work, the price can be materially reduced, since a less expensive plant may be em ployed and no permanent organization would be maintained. The
estimates in Table 43 contemplate first-class work in every partic ular; but of course if a lower grade is sufficient, the price may be lessened by reducing the quantity and quality of the concrete, the thickness and quality of the wearing course, the amount of rolling, the care employed in forming a true surface, etc. Table 44, page 438, shows the average prices paid in forty-five cities during the year 1900, and also gives some of the details concerning the method of construction and the cost of materials, labor, etc. No tice that the prices in Table 44 do not include grading, i. e., include only the concrete base, the binder, the wearing coat, and a 5 year or a 10-year guarantee; while the cost of the corresponding items in Table 43 is $2.43 for a 5-year guarantee and $2.55 for a 10-year guarantee. In Washington, D. C., the maximum price is limited by act of Congress to $1.80 per square yard for a Winch wearing coat, a 1i-inch binder course, a 6-inch concrete base (1 N. C.: 2 S.: 5 B. S.), and a 5-year guarantee.
Table 45, page 440, gives the cost of repairs of asphalt pave ments in Buffalo, N. Y., a city that until recently had more such pavements•than any other city in the world. An inspection of the table shows a marked variation in the cost of repairs from year to year. The results for pavements laid in 1883. 1885 and 1886 are abnormally high, a fact which shows that considerable poor work was done during those years.