Five-year road program approval on the horizon

     During the March 4 Jones County Supervisor meeting, County Engineer Derek Snead notified the Jones County Supervisors of his plans to have them approve the Secondary Road Five-year Road Construction Program at their March 18 board meeting.

   "It has not really changed, for the most part, from our public hearing we had back in December," Snead said.

   One small change was the funding source behind the 200^th Avenue twin culvert replacement project. Snead said it was planned to be 100 percent locally funding, but it is eligible for bridge funding.

   "We would recommend to switch that over to utilize the bridge funds," he said. "And utilize our local funding for some of these asphalt overlay projects that we've been talking about."

   He told the board he's been keeping a list of asphalt overlay projects to tackle throughout the county.

   Another change to the five-year program is the addition of Buffalo Road.

   "We've got a situation just to the west of where we built a bridge a couple of years back, where the embankment has sloughed off a little bit on one side near the edge of the road along Buffalo Creek," Snead said.

   He doesn't anticipate a huge project, though.

   "It would be a good one to knock out this summer before it does turn into something worse. We don't like to let these types of projects go for very long," he said.

   And while a contractor is on site, Snead said it would be a good idea to also tackle a small maintenance and ditch project along Buffalo Road, too.

   "That particular roadway has an old surface. It was last done between 2004 and 2007. It's in need of resurfacing," he said.

   While the resurfacing wouldn't happen right away, a maintenance project would be phase one to prepare the roadway for resurfacing in the near future.

   "There's a short stretch right beside this slide (near the road) that's happening that we have a sag, a low spot, in the existing roadway," explained Snead. "It just doesn't drain very good in that area because it's very flat. Water just sits there, and the road deteriorates faster.

   "(We need to) Put a good sub-base down right there," he continued. "Let it settle out for a year and then it'd be good to resurface Buffalo Road the following construction season, kind of two-phase thing. The slide has increased the amount of erosion the last couple of years."

   Supervisor John Schlarmann inquired about the timeline for bids for contract rock, suggesting if those bids come in high, perhaps the five-year road program might need to be modified.

   Snead said he doesn't plan to seek bids until the end of March, but clarified that contract rock would come out of the current Fiscal Year 2025 budget and be paid before July 1. The projects on the road program and any asphalt overlay projects would come out of FY2026.

   "The plans for the asphalt projects, we'd get them ready this spring and have a letting in June," said Snead. "In all likelihood, with the schedules for the asphalt guys we’ve talked to, they would be after July 1 with construction. They'll be in two different fiscal years."

   Schlarmann also asked about the predicted average price per ton for contract rock. The average price last season was $12.36 per ton. Snead expects at least a 3- to 8-percent increase in price this season.