Drive to repair county roads, bridges continues

Resurfacing four county roads and replacing nine bridges is expected to cost about $3.4 million this construction season.

Plymouth County Supervisors Tuesday approved a road repair and maintenance budget for fiscal year 2009-10 and a five-year construction plan presented by Tom Rohe, Plymouth County engineer.

Resurfacing the four county roads with asphalt and replacing the bridges, two wooden ones with concrete bridges and seven with culverts, will be paid for using state and local road-use tax, property tax and federal stimulus money.

For the road resurfacing projects, the road department received $500,000 in federal stimulus money.

In addition, of all money spent through the secondary road budget this year, $5.4 million is from road-use tax and $2 million from property taxes.

Road-use tax revenue comes from fuel and sales tax and registration fees.

"That's why registration and fuel tax is so important to us," Rohe said. "That's where the majority of our funding comes from."

When the economy slows down, the road department's income may go down depending on fuel usage, Rohe said.

"You have to set some priorities and do what is most important," he said.

Costs in 2009 for resurfacing the four roads with asphalt are estimated at $2.2 million with projects ranging from $50,000 to $1.6 million, Rohe said.

Bridge replacements for this year are expected to cost $1.2 million with project costs ranging from $40,000 to replace a bridge with a culvert to $368,000 to replace a wooden bridge with a concrete one.

Usually between eight and 10 bridge replacements are done each year, but than can vary depending on the size of the project, Rohe said.

"Every year we put as many bridge replacements as possible in our budget, and we keep a backlog just in case additional funds become available," he said.

Rohe also outlined proposed construction projects for the next five years, but said many of them could be altered based on the amount of funding available each year.

The roads to be resurfaced this year and estimated costs are:

*C-16 from K-22 east to Business 75, 10 miles, $1.6 million

*C-12 from Craig west 3 miles to K-22, $450,000

*K-30 from Craig north to Sioux/Plymouth County line, $150,000

*325th Street from K-22 east to Hidden Acres Golf Course entrance, $50,000

The bridges to be replaced with culverts and estimated costs are:

*Hickory Avenue, one-half mile north of C-38, $95,000

*Quartz Avenue, 1.5 miles north of C-38, $90,000

*200th Street, 1 mile north of C-38 and Nature Avenue, $80,000

*Hickory Avenue, 1.5 miles north of C-38, $65,000

*Marble Avenue, 1 mile south of C-44, $60,000

*270th Street east of Polk Avenue, $40,000

*Kestrel Avenue, 1.25 miles south of C-60, $50,000

The wooden bridges to be replaced with concrete ones and estimated costs are:

*Tamarack Avenue, 1 mile south of C-44, $368,000

*Iris Avenue, 1.5 miles south of C-12, $282,000