County approves One- and Six-Year Road Plan

Patti Jo Peterson

Managing editor

Bridge repair and replacements comprise the bulk of the proposed One-and Six-Year Cass County Road Plan.

Road Superintendent Lenny Thorne presented the proposed plan to the county commissioners Tuesday during a public hearing. Commissioners approved the plan after the hearing was closed.

Bridge, culvert work

on One-year Plan

Nine bridge repair/replacements are on the one-year plan. Although replacing a bridge on Sixth Street inside of Louisville is on the one year, it will most likely be delayed, Thorne indicated. The new bridge will be funded with a federal aid/soft match grant, and he anticipates its construction is “two or three years away.”

Replacing a structurally deficient bridge on 84th Street with a CMP culvert is on the one-year plan with a bid letting proposed for April.

“It’s on 84th Street between Church and Mill Roads. It was 12-foot deep in snow this winter,” Thorne said.

Replacing a small structure on Oreapolis Road will be done in cooperation with the Nebraska Department of Roads. “We have three tubes to put in on Oreapolis Road,” Thorne explained.

Replacing an existing bridge on 84th Street with a concrete box culvert is proposed for the next year. It will be engineered for a soft-match. A 10-ton truss on 84th also needs replaced with a new bridge with the project proposed on the one-year plan.

“This should be let this winter with federal money,” Thorne said.

Replacing a narrow, 10-ton structure on 27th Avenue with a new DSG is also recommended.

Thorne is also proposing the replacement of a narrow, 6-ton bridge with a box culvert on Adams Street, as well as the bridge on Mckelvie Road with a CMP as projects for the upcoming year.

The Adams Street work is partially done. “We will finish this spring,” Thorne said.

The Mckelvie Road structure will need two CMPS installed as well as raising the approach by eight or nine feet, he said.

Taking out a small CMP and replacing it with new twin CMP’s is planned for Havelock Avenue. “This is an odd situation,” he said.

A three by six cattle tube, used by a producer many years ago, isn’t handling the drainage. “It’s old and it’s been there forever. We’re looking at twin culverts to handle the drainage,” Thorne said.

Cleaning ditches and correcting drainage issues on A Street are priorities on the one-year.

Replacing an 11-ton truss bridge on Mynard Road is on the plan. The bridge has a sufficiency rating of 25 percent, Thorne said. “It has been in the federal aid system since 2001. I would think we could let it next year.”

Resurfacing projects

One-Year Plan

Commissioners agreed with Thorne that rebuilding and hard surfacing Church Road from Highway 66 to Highway 6 is a high priority. “It’s almost ready to go, but the board needs to decide on it. In a month we need to bid this,” he said.

With so much being taken out of the inheritance funds for courthouse repairs and snow removal, Thorne was unsure where funds would be available for the project.

“If we bid it now, we’d start in June,” Thorne said. “This is a big one�-I just want to make sure we’re there. I don’t want to walk in here and ask for money �” the inheritance fund has been hit hard.”

The project would take from June to September, he added.

Commissioner Dave Nielsen said the county would be better off to do the project now.

“This is going to be a plus for the whole northwest of the county,” Commissioner Ron Nolte added.

Commissioner Jim Peterson asked if it would affect the grade on the road going through Greenwood. “We’re not changing it much,” Thorne said. “We didn’t want to change the flow of water. We’re replacing culverts, so the actual elevation is not going to change much.”

Nolte said he hopes the county will receive funds from Federal Emergency Management Agency to help curtail the snow removal costs.

“I think we will get some,” Thorne said.

Nielsen said the money for the snow plowing was “money well spent.”

One man in his district told him he’d never seen the roads kept up as well in winter as this year.

Thorne also strongly recommended patching Waconda Road and armor coating it.

“We have to do some heavy patching on this road,” he said.

On the One-Year schedule is armor coating 310th St. “�/t’s a holdover project and it was supposed to be done in the fall, but the weather cut us off,” Thorne said. “It’s something we need to look at.”

Putting a four-inch asphalt overlay on 144th St. to Weeping Water, as well asphalt overlays for Oakhill Road and Rock Bluff Road are also proposed.

Rebuilding South 202nd Street is on the plan.

“We need to get the water going where it’s supposed to be going,” Thorne said.

Bluff Road is in need of repair due to its existing substandard road surface.

“We have to rip everything out and haul the asphalt away,” Thorne said. “We’ll build it back with rock. That will be done this spring or summer.”

Rebuilding the 214th Street road is proposed “to bring it onto the section line,” he said.

Six-year proposals

Six-year plan proposals includes replacing bridges with concrete boxes on 226th Street; repairs to a bridge on Mckelvie Road; and replacing two bridges with a new structure on Church Road.

Replacing an existing 6-ton bridge on A Street with a box culvert is on the six-year and will be determined by the engineer.

Bridge repair/replacements are proposed for Fletcher Avenue, Mill Road, Mckelvie Road, Havelock Avenue and 322nd St.

Road upgrades on the Six-Year plan include 18th Street and East Wiles Road.