Supervisors smooth ruts in proposed road plans

COLUMBUS -- Platte County Highway Superintendent Fred Liss addressed the Platte County Board of Supervisors Tuesday morning with details of his proposed One Year Road Program.

The plan, which is part of the department’s One and Six Year Road Plan, was presented for the supervisors review only.

A public hearing, set for 10 a.m. Jan. 20, will provide an opportunity to comment on the plan before it is voted on.

“This presentation today is just an opportunity for the board to ask questions and get any clarifications you might need,” Liss told the supervisors. “If you have anything that needs to be put in or taken out, we can do that before the public hearing on the 20th.”

Liss said there are seven bridge projects and about 25.5 miles of roadway, which includes 15.5 miles on the Lindsay to Genoa project and another 10 miles on the Tarnov and Monastery roads.

“The reason for this somewhat light schedule is our need for a maintenance year,” Liss said. “We’ll be doing a lot of ditch cleaning and shoulder work this year.”

Supervisor Tom Martens asked Liss what could be done about the problems with 48th Avenue that runs north from Columbus to 83rd Street, known as Lakeview road.

“I realize there are many projects ahead of this, but safety is an issue on 48th Avenue especially with some of our younger drivers making their way to and from school,” Martens said.

Liss said the ruts on 48th Avenue appear more dramatic than they are, but he said the work that would help the most could be classified as maintenance work and could be completed this summer.

“The condition of 48th Avenue is that it is moderately rutted,” Liss said. “Actually, the pavement on that stretch of road is not a problem, but I agree the safety issue, if there is one, is with the rutted nature of the roadway.”

Liss said he measured the deepest ruts at only about 1 inch deep.

“A class-one milling would grind the ruts out and improve the situation considerably,” Liss said. “Putting down an armor coat after that would be the way to finish it up.”

Liss estimated the repairs would cost about $45,000 for three miles of 48th Avenue that need to be done.

Liss was questioned about the condition of Eighth Street, east of town toward 29th Avenue East.

The supervisors voiced concern about increased traffic and how damage might be reduced on roads that will see even more traffic once city and county viaduct projects begin.

Liss suggested that milling supplemented with an application of cold-mix asphalt could be a stop-gap maintenance solution to the deterioration of Eighth Street.

As to possible damage resulting from changing traffic patterns, he said lowering weight limits could help, but it would be important to consider that solution carefully so as not to negatively affect the transportation activities of local farm producers.

“We want to be careful of putting load limits on that might affect local folks in their work,” Liss said. “If some of these areas would become designated detours by the state, then the state could help with some of the cost of the maintenance. So far the state has not done this. Another possibility is to videotape the current conditions and try to submit the damages at a later time.”

In other action the board of supervisors approved increasing the salary of Deputy County Attorney Carl Hart to $55,720 per year.

The board accepted and approved the 2009-11 Platte County Juvenile Services Comprehensive Plan.