The Marshall County Commissioners and Marshall County Council met in joint session Wednesday, January 24 where they, and the general public, were updated on the operations of the Marshall County Highway Department.
Highway Department Superintendent Jason Peters explained that when he took over in 2015, of the 911 miles of roads in the county, 698 miles were considered as failed, 112 miles were considered fair and 10 miles were considered good as determined by PASER ratings. In 2022, about 30 percent of the roads in the county were poor, 39 percent were fair, and 31 percent were good, a significant improvement from the time he started – even with the extensive freeze-thaw damage on roads in 2015 and the historic flood in 2018.
He mentioned that it takes time to plan to repair and maintain roads and determine which are in the greatest need of attention. With the county council’s help with funding over the last couple of years and with a lot of work done in-house, the highway department has been able to get more done to make county roads better. Peters stressed that the good roads need to stay good and preventative maintenance on good roads needs to be priority.
Peters explained that the county gets about $5.4 million in its Motor Vehicle Highway and Local Roads and Streets Funds. Well over half of those funds go toward regular operations at the highway department which only leaves about $2 million of those funds for the road program.
Peters said he strives to complete 100 miles of chip seal, crack seal, paving, pug mix, and gravel roads each year, but with inflation, the available funds the department has does not get the plan to the annual goal. However, along with Local Roads and Streets and Motor Vehicle Highway funds, American Rescue Plan Act funds, General Fund monies, Community Crossings Grant Match Program funds, and Rainy Day Funds, helped the county council and the commissioners work to get the plan to its best season in 2023 with $9.5 million spent to go toward the highway department for materials, labor, daily operations, equipment, and other costs. This included the regular road program, Community Crossings Matching Grant projects and additional paving projects.
Peters said sustainable funding moving forward, planning, collaboration, and keeping up with budgeting increases will help the highway department in its quest to continue to do its best for the motoring public.
The council members will continue to research budget numbers to assist the highway department. Councilman Tim Harman said another $1 million or $2 million may be available, but the council will look more into that this quarter. The Budget and Finance Subcommittee will likely discuss that and more in a meeting scheduled for Tuesday, January 30 at 1:30 p.m. ET in the second floor meeting room (Room 203) of the Marshall County Building at 112 W. Jefferson Street in Plymouth.
