Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 32, Number 266, Decatur, Adams County, 8 November 1934 — Page 7

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ROAD 527 MARKS NEW ERA IN SAFETY

instruction gs fw Highway To ■educe Hazards

HKt — - — 7 Is Forer.unnVr Ht rV' Era In State BWay Building — rj\< REASE I.ATEK Mt WBthven miles of asphaltjpWauuni pavement and JSEfunderfill type of conbridges on 527 are the fore■7>i' a new era in state safety construction.; he !iad Has been impi’OV- < tl reduce accidents 1 K. r .e as a new artery Exending from a •tie lof I. S. highway 27 9»ur to the state line it will connect state highways Cincinnati and oth-; in the southeastern I ■the Buckeye state. pf flip Z'xl will be to make Deir Imore available as a to residents on and ■„ the highway. It will al-1 K; i largo amount of tourrt.«to Decatur as it will bo route from Dayton. ■ tiiKs md Cincinnati to t'hicain western Mich- i dL has been straightened that ail but one of tlio less than four degrees.. ■kfinuini curve of seven de. of the Decatur, This was necessary, MLart of the old road bed The road at this curve 1 the rest of the high-' Mp l 1 has a foot and a'half' legation or banking am ■n Hie state may inwidth of the pavement le mini te permit four lanes of ■ ■ i some instances the state for the major fills.; the road has been built K;>t right of ways. ■i.l is now 42 feet wide Of' ■7 h 20 feet are paved and ■Jiii each side of pbe pave-i improvd to provide safe M All 42 feet may he used Hl In addition to the 11 ■&hb rs there are four feet Hr ditches on each side of ■®istruct this type of road ■Kigineering problems were' ■ many instances where the built over a new right of ■Vdreds of tons of dirt were ■jv to make the fills. Only ■w few instances was it no■«o make extensive cuts, ■sual tourist over the road ■bably fall to see any of the ■ridges. The top and hand Be covered with dirt which ■lading the load over a wide Babies the bridges to stand Bright. ■ bridges are built and look ■ls a gigantic tile. In effect ■re arcs and as such can ■ enormous loads. As the fr become older the weight Bn carry will be increased B 10 years they will be able

State Department Heads ™wH wb* I rMB". /IB H, ji j 4. k& : . : -w tJV X&'r ’T Wsi ' : wflWMy ►mes D. Adams, director of the Indiana highway commission and I Simmons, head of the state department of public works, who ‘ in obtaining state road 527 for residents of Adams county and Mr. Adams, former Columbia City newspaper publisher, will »e fincipal speaker at the dedication ceremonies F riday atte rnoon. pnunons, whose home is at Bluffton, formerly represent ( county as state representative.

DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT

11 to can© loads of- too (om ar mm, | The ordinauy bridges bulk st She eounti* of till' at-ate i<>w are limited to bt to • tot.- u>a must be replaced even «i-- or ss The new bridges tltasrriletter'. w*u limi ' forevr. The ordin M y 4w<H fertilises * tla--1 county dep.end for Uudr weight '(carrying qua". iti*s uq»n the ‘ strength es the hhwmmu of the steel ■1 beams supporting the read bed. ! The conshMd pounding a: uutemai Idle and truck wheels leave a ton dency tn gradually destroy kinI bridge. : The new concrete bridges del pend for their support upon the compression of concrete which K i almost unlimited. The weight is 1 spread out and down over the arcs, 'when the bridges are opened to traffic they will support loads of . between 10 and 20 tons. As they , settle they will become stronger. :| Another advantage of the new type of brides is that the pave. ! ment may be laid over it as soon' ias the bridge is completed. Ordi-1 , narily the road builder must wait 1 a year or more before paving a j small strip on each side of the 'bridge to prevent it from settling. The arc construction enables rolli ers to pack down and waterhind these strips as soon as the bridge is finished. The bridges are wide enough to I permit the 42 foot road to pass over it. This will eliminate the necessity of narrowing the road at the .. point of bridge crossings as is necessary in the old type when the .hand rail is above the surfaceLater the state will erect, guard ■ rails on the edges of the road ■ whorq it crosses bridges and ’'where it passes over fills higher .(than 'eight feet. RARE MACHINE TYPE IS USED Slwvcr Lswd By Yest Oa (’«nt4Mw4i«» An unusual piece of maclimiwy. the first of its kind in the United Slates, is possessed by the Y os< Brothers, and was used in the construction work on the new highway. The machine is an equipment mover, anil is use'd to move t«he building equipment used by Y«ost Brothers from place to place. The idea was original with Hiem. iftid the machine was made in Wieir own . machine shop. 'Boo possess hto patent on it. Using MfructiwiU bei©ns» for a frame, •io Yost hwHiers up a large platform with a motor mounted at the rear, and six wheels, two in front and four in the rear, under it. The machine is steered by a man at the rear, and has rubber tires to adapt it to road travel. It will carry 20 tons, and travel at a speed of 10 to 15 miles an hour. The platform is nine feet wide and 28 feet long. The ’(CONTINUED OX PAGE FIVE)

TYPE OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION OF SCENT KE New Boutl fc Type (M Bkick Top Kurfaw N»iw BfeKMt Be*»h»p*d' LJTRJkXY TO (MME KTAXDAKU IN STATE Tin 1 type >*a«l constr«ctio« vvkieh Ikkts hwtbM used «* the mwty constructed ttfate j raitd 527 sort kuast of De»aJtur rs kn«w» as an astftatkkiv mactHktm road and is ’ «f a tvpe of hkiek top awrfeee i which is just teeing developed State road department heads prediet that thio type of road will soon become the standard in Indiana. It is believed to be as efficient as others and is more economical to build. It is laid in eight layers or courses with a total depth of 13'2 indies. ‘ The first step in the building of this type of road is the; construction of the grade which! n>iint be leveled off to a very. smooth surface. To guarantee this level surface grade stakes are set I every 25 feet. . 1 Over this an inch and a half of I stone screening is applied. This is • | rolled- and compacted to keep the dirts from working up into the ; higher surfaces. I The second course consists of I three and a half Inches of numb. ler one stone. Number one stone ■ ranges froth two to three inches in . ' diameter. This is rolled and compacted ©ver it is spread sereetiage Ito fill all the voids. It is water [ hound to set all Hie stone in place | l>y sprinkling M with waker HHiks. ;It is irgain Hiorouglily voUed amd I eemjiaek'ih Tile Hurd eomw io ft duplicate arf the seoomi course. I Tire ItoiM'th ccorttote ci ; tl«reo and a bu.k bvebos M efeaw wmabed stpse, cumber cw grade. I h is relied nd coMieacted Heavy aophalt is a mik'd M the rale dt •He ts linU a»ril«* tb the sgttare yard awl tri* r rolkc MMOOt ■ The fifth aWFIh-atiiM insists of firt? stone of from one bait to three fourths inches is diameter, applied to fill in aJI the voids. This is laid carefully aid smoothed with a wire broom attached to a traiok. The si-xtli course is applied vwHi cut back asphalt and is rolled to a , smooth surface t-o ma*e it »ead» i for the finishing or Hnad cou-pse. The hist course is composed of * het bHtc aepkait. applied tea Wticleness «f about Two inches. The m<xof het sand, stone and asphalt 1 is roihid and compacted to form a ' seneoth surface All bumps and im perfections in the levels are ascer- ' tained with a 20 foot straight edge 1 and the high spots are ground off. o , I Contractors Thank I All Who Aided In I Building Os Road I Harry and Oscar Meshberger . issued a statement today thanking the men who cooperated in the building of the new state road 5*27. The men who were employed by the general contractors were: Enos Harvey, superintendent in charge of the work: J. R. Hardendorf. general superintendent; Homer Cole, foreman of concrete construction; Thomas Kirdendorfer, foreman of grading; Fred Hanni, stone foreman: Carl Duel,time keeper; Hugh Reynolds, operator of Blue Creek Stone quarry from which the majority of the stone was purchased. They also thanked the employes of the Middle West Roads company who furnished the hot-mix asphalt plant, and were the subcontractors in charge of laying the asphalt. The men who worked on this were: George Bechill. general superintendent; Joe Burke, assistant superintendent; R. Jensen, assistant superintendent; Dave Otis, plant operator; Frank Gurtb ner, road foreman, and Windel Eldridge, time keeper. The general contractors also thanked the laborers and all oth ers who assisted in the work of building the road.

Decatur, Indiana, Thursday, November 8, 1934.

General Contractors r 0 . * ,'»;yywT ■ ’ft * . ■ ISltek ! Plarry Meshberger and Oscar Meshberger, owners and operators «< the Meshberger Brothers Stone company, who were the general cmntractiowi f«r the building of state highway 527. The brothers have ope»tr»eij a Stone quarry near Ilinn Grove for many years and are ■ Knudiy gaining prominence in this section of the country as builders •f tere reads. History of Meshberger Stone Co. Dates Back More Than Sixty Years

The htstery <rt Un- Tb-iHHverger Stone Cempm»F dates bavk to 18811 when David MesthOeroer. Hut her of| Harry and ©soak - Meahbeeaer, the present proprietors of Vlie company. opened a small qttarry along the Wabash river, and on the oth er side of the river h’ont Linn Grove, The quarry twider the first years of its management ity David M’eshberger produced only Mme buttcMng stone used mainly for Hie construe, tion of bridges. The sWone was of a good quality and found area iy market The growth of the oompany was not fast bitt steady. In 1905 Mr. Mesitberger desired to expand his business so he purchased a stone erusher and began preparing stone for read work. He continued to sell buildtng stone. The crushed stone was sold for use on roads in Aslams and nearby counties. After David Meshbeiiger’s death d-u-i Mig Hie yens of 1911 asid 1912 the quarry v.as operated by his widow. Jone MeabbergerThe present owners, Horry aad Osoar neshbergor, ytrehased the quarry triiiu their mother in 1913. They begun the yroducti»« of crushed liimst»»e for road work and limestoae building material under the nuire of Meshberger Brothers. For taaay years the problem of keeping the quarry dry because of its proximlt-y to the Wabash river had proved both expensive and difficult so in 1947 the quarry was abandoned; and a new one opened at a point a’ mile and a quarter northwest of Linn Grove on the Blutfton road. This is Hie site of Hie present quantw. In 19412 the company wns incorporated under the name of the Meshber^ 1 B»o»iiers Stone Quarry, the name it bears today. During Hie same year Hie company purchased new equipment and began the building of county roads Most of these were built in Adams. Wells and Jay counties. Not until 1930 did the real expansion of the company begin. In that year the two brothers began accepting Estate contracts. State road 527 has been one of the largest of the state contrtcts received so far. Equipment lias been added to keep pace with this remarkable growth. The first stone sold from the old quarry along the Wabash river delivered by horse and wagonin 1909 the company pulled a

State Highway Engineers r 1 Mb ' i C.y ■■■l jraOgig; Lotus Worden, assistant engineer; C. E. Johnson, inspector, and W. H. Wells, project engineer; employes of the state highway commission who had direct supervision of tlie construction work on state road 527. These men were located in or near Decatur during the entire construction peiiod. Other state highway employes who aided on the road were Roy Biberstine, district engineer; J. C. Schuyler, stone inspector; Ed Humbarger, weigh master; Al Fox, asphalt inspector; A. Dierks, concrete . inspector; J. P. Parker, assistant field engineer; O. A. Hastings, i assistant field manager.

steam engine, capable of pulling I ■live wagon trailers behind it over (the country and city roads of that ! time. It was considered the latest , means of conveyance at that time.: “rrTiIHJ the company first began! to hire trucks. They used from one 1 to ten trucks a day as business de-; manded. Not until 1920 did the company purchase its first truck. Today the quary malntanes a fleet of 32 truchs- To them in efficient condition a modern garage and repair shop has been erected at the Lina Grove quarry. Mechanics are kept »n the job at all times to aer-1 vice the trucks. The company also lias two 11,I 1 , yard gasoline driven shovels, two caterpillar tractors and one power grader tractor, and three ten ton gasoline driven rollers. Some of! .-screens, washers to clean, stone,! the other equipment includes drills, and bins capable of storing 25,000 tons of stone. The plant's office is maintained at the Linn Grove quarry. o ♦firnr ThrtHHunri Yar<iA Os Gravel Taken From Pit Northeast of City ♦ —— ♦ The gravel pit northeast of Decatur, from which the Yost Brothers have taken a large part of the; gravel used in the construction work they did on highway 527, was first opened in 1920, but was abanuoned after three years. The pit is located along the Winchester road about one and a half miles from the Decatur city limits. In June of this year, the pit was reopened to supply gravel for the new highway. About 4,000 yards of gravel were taken from the pit The gravel is dipped out of forty feet of water by a track line, and deposited on piles where the water washes it. Loading equipment then supplies trucks from the pile. Although the gravel is of a high quality and good for concrete construction, none of the gravel was used for tlie concrete work on the ■ bridges, which were built by the Yost Brothers, as the pit was not open in time. The gravel from the pit was used to fill in over the arch of the bridges to make a bed for the pavement. About 3,000 yards of gravel from the pit have been sold for concrete and road work since the pit was reopened.

SPECIAL PLANT USED FOR ROAD Portable Asphalt Plant Used In Construction Os Road 527 An Interesting part of the equip. ! ment necessary to build the new state road 527, southeast of Decatur, was the portable hot asphalt plant leased to Meshberger Brothers stone company, by the Middle I West road company During its 25 days of operation I the plant turned out 9,000 tons of hot mixed asphalt for the wearing surface of the roads. The plant was erected on the north side of the Nickle Blate railroad in Pleasant Mills, on the road l running north and south past Ever- , ett's general store. i Such a plant Is required in building the type of road used on 527 because it is necessary to thoroughly dry out the stone and sand as well as to make the asphalt liquid before laying it on the road. The asphalt is known as hot mix asphalt and is a by-product of tlie large gasoline refining companies of the Calument area in area in northwestern Indiana. It conies in a solid cake in tank cars. ' The tank cars are equipped witli coils. Through these coils hot steam is sent by the use of boilers set up near the tracks. The asphalt must be heated to a temperature of from 250 to 300 degrees before it can be removed from the cars in a liquid form. It is then poured into the hot re. volving cylinder of the hot as- j phalt tank. With the asphalt is placed stone and sand, and the | contents of the batch, weighing about 1.000 pounds, is thoroughly mixed and heated to a very high I temperature. With the mix hot, trucks drive underneath the tank and are filled (CONTINUED ON PAGE FIVE)

We Thank You, IndianaFor building this wonderful road, and connecting us with the Ohio and Eastern road systems. We congratulate the contractors on the splendid construction of the road and bridges. To Ohio We say that we are happy to be linked with you and know that there will be many friendly contacts between our communities through the medium of Indiana State Highway 527. We extend a hearty welcome to you. DECATUR CHAMBER of COMMERCE I Promoting Community Good Will

Yost Bros. Started Into Business As Contractors Sixteen Years Ago

Starting humbly In 1918, when they constructed three bridges,, the Yost Brothers, local building contractors, have grown into a well known contracting company. About five men were employed by the company the first year. The equipment of the company consist.' ed of two wheel barrows, a concrete mixer, a team and wagon, and from twenty to thirty men regular- 1 a Ford car. Today the company employs ly and sometimes employs as many as fifty men. The present equipment consists of three trucks, three mixers of different sizes, an air compressor, Iwo cranes, an equipment mover, and many small articles. In early years, the Yost Brotllers bought all building materials, but in 1920 they opened a gravel

Building At Pleasant Mills Pleasant Mills business men reported the best year in record during Hie building of state road 527 through the town. Nearly 100 men were employed in and near the town during the entire construction period. A large tourist trade is expected to result from the improving of the road through Pleasant Mills in addition to the large increase in farm trade from residents who will find it easier to get into the town. Modern curbs and gutters were built on the sides of the new state road where it passes through Pleasant Mills to keep the water from destroying the value of adjacent property. - ... u—

HIGHWAY EDITION

pit north of Decatur along the Win- ' cheater road. They installed a track line and dipped their own gravel from the pit. In 1923 the pit was abandoned, but it was reopened last June to supply material for the construction of Highway | 527. The Yost Brothers have built bridges over a wide area during | the past few years. They have constructed two fifty-foot bridges in Michigan, and a number of bridges in Noble, DeKalb, Allen and Lagrange counties in addition to the work they have done in Adams county. The Decatur fire station was built and the city power plant rebuilt by Yost Brothers a few The firm is composed of two brothers. Cal and Attos Yost, year’s ago