Infrastructure successes help everybody
Winter weather always prompts questions to my office about road clearing responsibilities. When the roads aren’t cleared in a reasonable length of time, taxpayers want to know who they should call. And that is fair.
The passage of the federal infrastructure bill and the recent completion of the Third Street Bridge naturally raised additional inquiries about who is responsible for which major projects. This is another fair question, so I thought it would help people to understand how these projects get done and which roads and bridges are maintained by which entities.
Road-clearing responsibilities
Our office is responsible for 311 “center-line” miles of county roads. We employ a staff of 65 people to ensure that snow is cleared, potholes are addressed, cracks are filled, bridges get minor repairs, culverts are replaced, grass is mowed and roads are kept in good condition.
Generally, roads within city or village limits belong to the city or village when it comes to maintenance, except for state and federal highways. Roads outside of municipalities that are not state or federal highways are either county roads or township roads.
County roads are a system of major through roads that have been established by the Board of County Commissioners forming a network
within the county. Examples of county roads are Infirmary Road, North Dixie Drive, Manning Road, Alex-Bell Road and Mad River Road. Non-county roads outside municipalities are township roads, forming local connections to properties.
Admittedly, it can get quite confusing. If you have questions, the best place to start is usually your city or township public works department. Additionally, the county engineer’s office has maps that denote in blue all the roads Montgomery County maintains. You can find
the maps on our website at www.engineer.mcohio.org/ departments/gis. People can also pick up the maps on the eighth floor of the County Administration Building at 451 W. Third St. in Dayton. Finally, you can also call our office at 937-225-4904 if you have questions or would like a map mailed to you.
County road crews, along with the crews in our cities and townships, deserve the utmost respect, especially when it comes to clearing the roads of ice and snowfall. Winter weather events prompt some grueling shifts
in truly uncomfortable conditions with poor visibility. People can underestimate the stress involved in that line of work, so I have deep gratitude for all those crews that keep us moving in the winter months.
Bridges and major road projects
It may surprise you that Montgomery County is responsible for 525 bridges, the most of any of Ohio’s 88 counties. If a bridge is on a county or township road, or in a municipality where it goes over water and crosses a municipal boundary, it is the responsibility of the county. If it does not, it belongs to the city or village.
Minor bridge maintenance, such as curb repairs, patching and snow removal, are the responsibility of the municipality — even if the county constructed the bridge.
The infrastructure bill that President Biden signed into law in November includes roughly $110 billion in new funds for roads and bridges. We are eagerly awaiting the disbursement of those funds and understanding which of our priority projects might
receive that funding.
Paying for a major project, such as the Third Street bridge, is a difficult proposition that can take years. We work hard to tap into available funding streams and be responsible stewards of taxpayer money.
Our office enlists a third party to audit address lists from license plate fees. Sometimes people will indicate at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles that they live in a city. If in fact they live in a township, the county and township are entitled to a portion of those fees. Over the last five years, our audit has resulted in the collection of about $600,000.
Gas taxes fund a large portion of our budget, which is roughly $18 million a year. These funds cover salaries, salting trucks and materials, construction contracts and more.
Funding our Peace Bridge
Only about 1 percent of the funding for the $17 million Third Street bridge, also known as The Peace Bridge, came out of our County Engineer’s budget. The lion’s share, about 94 percent, came from the state-administered
Local Major Bridge funding. (This is just one federal funding program out of a number that are available to us.) The remaining 5 percent of the funding came from the Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC).
We are one of seven single-county districts that seeks distribution of OPWC funding. Other districts are made up of several counties that prioritize projects as a unit. Within each district, the projects are placed into a priority ranking established by the district within guidelines of the OPWC and then funded accordingly.
Since the counties and jurisdictions compete for funds from the OPWC, our office spends a great deal of time presenting various bridge and road projects to OWPC in Columbus, in an effort to demonstrate the need for this important work.
We want our taxpayers to have a thorough understanding of what the Montgomery County Engineer’s Office develops and maintains to keep a sound infrastructure for our citizens. Anyone with questions on these matters can email me at Grunerp@mcohio.org.