Hwy. Dept. gives update on road improvement
MARSHALL COUNTY – County Highway Supervisor Jason Peters updated the County Commissioners on Monday in regard to the department’s activities over the last month.
Peters stated that his department submitted an asset management plan to LTAP and it was approved. that information was given to the Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG) and updated.
Marshall County, with assistance from MACOG, used the Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating (PASER) system to asses the county’s road pavement conditions.
Roads are rated on a scale from 1 to 10; 1 representing structural failure and 10 representing no defects or less than a year old.
Peters showed the commissioners that in 2015, there were 1,412.06 miles in the 1-4 category, 211.44 miles in the 5-7 category, and 10.13 miles in the 8-10 category.
Jump five years into the present, and those numbers now reflect 898.87 miles in the 1-4 category, 471.92 miles in the 5-7 category, and 274.64 miles in the 8-10 category.
“So over the past five years we’ve made a lot of headway,” Peters said.
The commissioners commended Peters and his department for what they have been doing to improve the county’s roads.
“Jason, you and your guys deserve the credit for this,” Commissioner Stan Klotz said. “We appreciate the job you do.”
“It’s definitely a joint effort,” Peters responded.
“You’re the right person for the job,” Commissioner Kevin Overmyer said. “You have definitely proven your worth and why you’re in this position.”
“A lot of that goes to the support behind me too,” said Peters.
Peters then presented a rough draft of the 2021 Road Program to the commissioners.
Flood damage repairs have been sent out to bid. Peters stated that sealed bids will be ready for the Dec. 21 meeting. Peters stated that the estimated quantities and cost per structure was $216,617. The commissioners signed a contract with USI to receive the bids and for the engineering estimate cost stated earlier.
When asked, Peters stated that this covered 11 bridges that incurred damage from the 2018 flood.
“The nice thing with this being completed, it gets a lot of structures back up to standards,” Peters said.
Once the contract has been signed and sent back to USI, sealed bids will be opened on Dec. 21. Those bids will be taken under advisement and then be rewarded to a contractor for all the repairs. Peters hopes that the contractor chosen will have these projects completed during the winter.
The commissioners will be awarding that bid during the last meeting of the year on Dec. 31.
There was a culvert replacement on 7B Road that was completed. It was completed in three days and totaled $56,000.
“It turned out very nice,” Peters said.
The Highway Department is currently working on patching and grading roads, cutting brush and berming. The department plans to grind humps off Lincolnway this week east of Bourbon.
It is also preparing for winter. The commissioners also approved the following road cut requests:
- A request from Karamida, a well monitoring company, that would like to install a couple wells in order to test the water in the area of Michigan Road and 2A Road.
- A request from Maplenet for a direct boring between SR 17 and Olive Trail.