Looking Back: Highway Job to Cost $330,000; Work for Fifty
Click the image of the newspaper above to read the full front page.
An expert from the Thursday, October 2, 1930, Paso Robles Spotlight:
Plan start within sixty days as agents seek right-of-ways
Realignment sets at rest fears that coastal route will divert traffic
Plans for the realignment of the state highway north from Paso Robles city limits to the San Luis Obispo county line at an estimated cost of $330,000 were going forward steadily today with the announcement by State highway authorities that right-of-way agents were obtaining satisfactory rights along the proposed path realignment will follow.
Will Employ Fifty
At the same time the district engineer’s office at San Luis Obispo announced that the project will employ fifty men for work in unskilled branches.
The project will be underway within sixty days, it was reported, following revised estimates of the time required to obtain right-of-ways through properties the line will follow.
When work actually begins the equipment on the highway will embrace an asphalt plant, grading and finishing equipment, caterpillar tractors, three steam rollers and a number of steam shovels.
A total of 150 men will be employed. Road camps may be established between San Miguel and Paso Robles. This was considered unlikely, however, since most of those employed [will] probably be residents of Paso Robles and vicinity.
Allays Traffic Fears
Announcement of the realignment was received with delight by Paso Robles business men and business men of Atascadero. Action of the State highway department in spending the huge sum for road work set at rest rumors that traffic on the route would be curtailed following construction of the Pacific coastal scenic highway. The action of the state was seen to be an anticipation of as great, if not greater, use of the present intermediate San Francisco-Los Angeles highway.
The work will be in charge of George Tilton, district highway construction engineer.
Editor’s note: According to an online calculator, $330,000 in 1930 is about $4,724,802.40 today.
Read previous Looking Back articles
- Looking Back: Roblans Contribute to WWI Efforts
- Looking Back: 200 take plunge for free swimming lessons, San Miguel School breaks ground
- Looking Back: Cupid hits 80-year-old lad in Paso Robles
- Looking Back: Boys School plans shown
- Looking Back: Don’t pick a fight unless you’re bigger than the other guy
This “Looking Back” view at Paso Robles history comes from one of the hundreds of local newspapers in the Paso Robles Area Historical Society collection. Several local newspapers, dating from the 1800s, have reported on local, national and world events, providing priceless historical views of our community that are not available from any other source. The Historical Society is seeking community support for the multi-phased Newspaper Preservation Project to help fund the transfer of these aged and fragile pages to microfilm and digital images.
Photography of the old newspapers is by Gigi Greene. News for this column is selected with the assistance of the society’s Vice President Nancy Tweedie and Research Director Jan Cannon.
The Paso Robles Historical Society is located in the Paso Robles History Museum at 800 12th Street in Downtown City Park. Visit the Paso Robles Historical Society website for more information about exhibits, research, becoming a member, volunteering, or donating.
The Paso Robles Daily News is pleased to support this important project. Watch this space for future “Looking Back” articles.
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