The condition of roads in Marshall County has been a topic of discussion since the spring season began, especially with the plan to reclaim roads.
The main concern of Commissioners Kurt Garner and Mike Delp is the turn around in putting the roads back to an asphalt state. They would like to see the reclaimed roads as part of this year’s plan to be resurfaced this year without waiting a year. Commissioner Kevin Overmyer wants the highway department to remain on the current schedule. Overmyer stated that a representative from engineering firm DLZ rode along with Highway Supervisor Jason Peters and witnessed their process of reclaiming roads. According to Overmyer, the representative was complimentary of the highway department on their restoration process.
Highway Supervisor Jason Peters explained that the process in which they’re following leads to a better base for a better road.
“We’ve ground them, we’ve left them a year and they’ve gone through their freeze/thaw cycles and we’ve come back and chip and sealed them, pug paved them or simply paved them,” said Peters. “When we do grind those roads, we get them ditched and bermed as well. We grind the roads, get them ditched and bermed and then we resurface the roads. I don’t like the idea of doing that now that we’re going to put them back and we’re not going to get those roads ditched and bermed. There are culverts in each one of those road segments too that we need to check and make sure that if they have any bad ones that they need to be replaced.”
Peters said he’s gotten a lot of compliments from residents about the department’s plan to do something with the roads.
“Believe it or not we have had people call in saying thank you for grinding them up. We just had a phone call this morning from a resident on Lilac and he said it was about time.”
If the highway department were to put back the roads from the ground state to the paved state with this year’s plan combined with last year’s plan, it would cost approximately $2.4 million. This would be funded in part with the state’s Community Crossing Grant which is a 50/50 split with the county. Commissioner Garner said he would be at the county council meeting next week to discuss funding for roads this summer.
Peters said if the plan were to be amended to include this year’s reclaimed roads, it would put a time crunch on the workers to get it done with weather being a major factor. He said he would also need to focus on road priority with traffic, housing and economic development as factors. Some roads may need to stay in their gravel state.
After much more discussion, the commissioners had a vote of 2-1 to amend this year’s road plan to include putting back the roads that were reclaimed last year and this year. Commissioners Kurt Garner and Mike Delp voted in favor of the motion while Commissioner Kevin Overmyer voted against the measure.
