It's been another busy year for the County Highway Department, Superintendent Tim Hens told members of the Legislature during his annual department review at the Public Service Committee meeting on Thursday.
In 2019, the county received $1.7 million from the state for roads, bridges, and culverts, plus another $382,183 for road paving.
There are 92 bridges in the county with a span of greater than 20 feet. The condition rating is 5.16, up from 5.11 last year.
There are currently nine bridges in the county posted to warn away drivers with heavy loads. This year, three of those bridges are being replaced. They are: Caswell Road, Searls Road, and Pratt Road bridges.
Taking into account all bridges greater than five feet long, much progress has been made over the past three years, Hens said.
“We did an inventory and assessment study in 2016 and identified our top 30 worst bridges,” Hens said. “We have replaced 18 of those. That’s better than half, which is pretty good. With three of them currently being replaced by the end of the year, that number will go up by three by the end of the year.”
Those state programs are going to be dependent in future years on what the federal government does, which Hens said is a concern. He's uncertain about congressional approval and whether the bill will be passed before the 2020 election.
There are 260 centerline miles of highway the county maintains. The average condition rating is now 5.69, an improvement from the previous year.
Paving projects completed in 2019:
- Horseshoe Lake Road, Stafford
- South Lake Road, Pembroke
- Prole Road Extension, Stafford
- South Street Road, Le Roy
- Colby Road, Darien
- Hickox, Walker, and Gillette Road, Alexander
Another project completed in 2019 is the EMS training ground and new firing range at the Emergency Services office location on Bank Street Road.
There are currently 61 employees in the department, for a total of 56.75 full-time equivalents, up by two from 2018.
The proposed budget for 2020 us $5,527,130, which is an increase over 2019 because of the rising cost of salt for snow and ice removal, and increased health care costs.
Salt prices are going up about 5 percent.
Gas prices and asphalt prices have remained stable, Hens said.
Obviously we have some funding concerns going forward, Hens said.
There is at least $125 million in capital projects pending in the county over the next 10 years.
"That’s not the jail. That’s not water. That’s other stuff," Hens said. "We’re going to need federal aid. I hoping that this new federal authorization has some money in it for roads for counties, some relief for counties.”
