Engineer’s Office presents cost estimates for gravel road solutions

     While Mother Nature has been teasing us regarding the seasons right now, it will be spring before we know it.

   During the Feb. 14 Jones County Supervisor meeting, County Engineer Derek Snead and Assistant Engineer Todd Postel presented some road options to the board.

   “We put together some options for the spring time,” offered Snead, “what we have and could budget for spot rock and contract rock.

   “This gives you an idea of what it could look like and how much we’d get for what we spend,” added Snead. “Each location, each situation is unique.”

   Typically, Jones County applies roughly 400 tons of rock per mile. This spring, Snead said their target is 800 tons.

   In Fiscal Year 2022, $12.23 a ton was spent on contract rock. The re-estimation for FY 2023 is 110 percent over FY 2022, or $13.45 a ton.

   Snead offered that $1.10 million remains in the FY 2023 budget.

   There are also places on the gravel roads throughout the county that will require coring out and backfill to stabilize the roadway. A lot goes into a project like that…

   • Excavation

   • Disposal of waste

   In this case, Snead said they just can’t reuse the road waste like they can when doing a ditching project.

   “Excavation and waste disposal will be very situational based,” he told the board.

   • Special backfill

   • Engineering fabric

   • Modified subbase

   • Granular surfacing

   A core-out project on a gravel road is estimated to cost $25,000 per 300 feet of roadway.

   Snead also presented a map to the board where he proposed applying more contract rock, additional grading, core-out areas, and a mix of spot rock.

   “We could cover a lot of bad spots out there,” he said. “The map is very fluid; we’re adding to it every day.”

   Supervisor Jeff Swisher asked if money could be continuously set aside following a road project so that those particular roads receive contract rock until the road is built back up.

   “If there’s no money to rock the roads, we don’t do a project until we have the money,” he said.

   Snead said some of the roads also require drainage projects, aside from just building up the surface and material.

   “With drainage, it’ll improve,” he said. “We can come back now with rock and it’ll have a better chance of success.”

   “It’ll take two to three years of material to put the roads back to where they were,” added Swisher.

   “Not all of the roads will be covered in a year, with our budget,” Supervisor Joe Oswald noted.

   Postel said the major factor right now has been the weather.

   “How often do we have 40 to 50º in January?” asked Oswald.

   In the past several years, Secondary Roads has also switched from Class A three-fourths-inch rock to 1-inch rock.

   “It allows moisture to get through it,” Postel explained.

   Supervisor John Schlarmann asked if Secondary Roads had explored putting down cleaner rock versus limestone.

   “That’s considerably more money versus lime,” said Postel. “Clean rock doesn’t work well in dry situations.”

   “Well, it would make me happy if we tried it somewhere,” urged Schlarmann.

   Snead said they have identified a few locations within each motor grader district that need additional attention. Those roads will be labeled a “high priority” for additional rock and attention.

   “With 10 districts and two locations at each, that’s 20 different spots or so,” he offered.

   “Rock will help,” reiterated Swisher. “What we’re doing now, putting more rock down, I’m happy with that. We need to keep doing good things.”

   Supervisor Jon Zirkelbach said he’s seen graders on Dales Ford Road.

   “They appreciate that,” he said. “You’re out there and visable.”

   “It’s good we’re trying new things, but we cannot control the weather,” Oswald said.

   A couple of county residents were present to inquire about the condition of their roads: Luke Feldermann who lives near 246^th Avenue and 15^th Street; and Bill Roffey who lives on Forest Chapel Road.

   Feldermann said the county did a $200,000 road project on 246^th a few years ago and the road has reverted back to a poor condition.

   “That was done at a significant cost to Jones County taxpayers,” he said. “It’s an embarrassment, what we’ve ended up with. It can’t keep rock on the road.”

   He said he’s been told the road is still healing following the road project four years ago.

   “We deserve a better finished product,” he continued. “There are hundreds of potholes and 4- to 5-inch ruts of mud. Why are we left with this?”

   Snead said 246^th will be receiving rock this year.

   Roffey said he’s lived on Forest Chapel 21 years now, and was told in the past the county had plans to pave the road.

   Oswald asked where Roffey got that information from; he offered it was a realtor, in addition to a few other sources.

   “I was told it was in the plans and all of a sudden it dropped,” Roffey said of the project. “I understand expenses and it’d be very costly to convert a road to pavement, but the condition has never been good.”

   He asked if there was a way to keep sitting water off the road.

   “We have the same problem every year; it turns to mud,” he added. “I don’t know what you could do differently.

   “I drive other county roads and they’re never as bad as the north end of Forest Chapel. It astounds me.”

   Snead and Postel explained to Roffey that the five-year construction program used to be treated differently than it is today. Now, the projects listed are guaranteed to happen. Years ago, any time someone complained about their road, it was added to the program, whether the county had plans to do anything or not.

   “The program used to be treated a lot differently 20 years ago,” Snead said. “Now, we don’t put projects on that we can’t afford.”

   “Is there some way to stabilize the road so it doesn’t turn into a mud pit?” requested Roffey.