50 miles of county roads redone in ’16

With work wrapping up for the year, Putnam County Highway Department Supervisor Mike Ricketts had some numbers to report to the Putnam County Commissioners recently.

Giving an overview of the year’s work during the Dec. 5 commissioners meeting, Ricketts reported that resurfacing work of various kinds has been performed on more than 50 miles worth of county roads in 2016.

This total includes 11.29 miles of hot mix asphalt and 3.09 miles of cold mix (pug) asphalt. Additionally, 3.7 miles of road underwent the grinding and double chip and seal process, while 32.81 miles was chipped and sealed.

The 50.89 miles of road work came at a cost of $1.4 million. Taking away work funded by the hazardous waste fund, grant money and property owners, the work cost the county a little more than $1 million out of the street and highway fund.

Ricketts reported that only one job on the agenda at the beginning of the year didn’t get done — the “horseshoe” east of Heritage Lake that includes approximately 2.5 miles of county roads 450 North, 875 East and 350 North.

The road was set for resurfacing when the contractor backed out of the job.

“That’ll be first on our list next year,” District 1 Commissioner David Berry said.

Ricketts’ goal was to do nine miles of hot mix, a total the department exceeded. The county came under his chip and seal goal, but that was because some of it had to be repaved instead.

Berry noted that the $466,085.50 Community Crossings grant administered by the Indiana Department of Transportation made a huge difference. Berry added that House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Timothy Brown (R-Crawfordsville) said the program is going to continue.

Ricketts also reported on the completion of work on two more county bridges — Bridge 248 in Jackson Township and Bridge 42 in Franklin Township.

The commissioners also signed a change order on Bridge 137 (formerly Crowe’s Bridge), granting the contractor an extension for completion of work. The bridge itself has been open since late November, but some surrounding work remained.

The commissioners also opened and accepted all 2017 bids for the county highway. The common practice is for the county to accept all bids and then simply choose from the available contractors and providers on a job-by-job basis.

The opened bids will be available for public review at the 9:30 a.m. meeting on Monday, Dec. 19 at the courthouse.

Ricketts also reported the county to be in good shape on salt and sand for the winter with about 700 tons of salt (prior to the season’s first significant snowfall earlier this week) and another 750 on order.