Putnam County 2014 road projects chosen
More than 27 miles of Putnam County roads will have new or reconditioned surfaces by year's end, according to a plan approved Monday by the Putnam County Commissioners.
The 2014 roadwork will include 8.25 miles of new paving, along with 19.26 miles of chip and seal work, spread throughout the three districts.
Pug paving, which means entirely new road surfaces will provide between 1.75 and 3.25 miles of new roads in each of the county's three districts.
District 1 paving work will include one mile of work on County Road 225 East/County Road 300 North in Monroe Township between 210 North and 250 East. An additional 0.75 miles of paving will take place in Jackson Township on County Road 900 North between the county line and 825 East.
District 2 paving will include 2.22 miles of County Road 750 East in Marion Township between State Road 240 and Rangeline Road. In Greencastle Township, 1.04 miles of County Road 25 East will be repaved between Bridge 146 (formerly Houck Iron Bridge) and the Greencastle city limits.
District 3 will see only one paving project, but it will be the longest single stretch of paving performed by the county this year. County Road 700 South in Warren and Jefferson townships will be paved between U.S. 231 and County Road 560 East, a distance of 3.24 miles.
In addition to the paving, townships and roads with chip-and-seal projects on the docket include:
* Russell: County Road 900 North, 0.79 miles.
* Franklin: County Road 250 East, 1 mile.
* Jackson: County Road 825 East, 2 miles (double chip-and-seal); County Road 1000 North, 2.99 miles; County Road 450 East, 1.05 miles.
* Monroe: County Road 350 North, 0.30 miles.
* Floyd: Heritage Lake cost-share project, 2.18 miles; Heritage Drive, 1 mile; County Road 400 North, 0.125 miles.
* Greencastle: County Road 25 East, 1.09 miles.
* Marion: County Road 900 east, 3 miles.
* Washington: County Road 400 West, 0.254 miles.
* Jefferson: County Road 800 East, 2 miles.
* Cloverdale: County Road 1300 South, 2.284 miles.
The county also received some bad news regarding the federal aid work to replace Bridge 104, the smaller bridge just west of Dunbar Covered Bridge in Greencastle Township.
As a federal aid project, it is required that an inspector be on site for all work being performed.
The original estimate for cost of the inspector was $84,000. with the county only paying 20 percent of that cost under the agreement. However, Patti Smith of Beam, Longest and Neff informed the commissioners Monday that the cost of the inspector could be as much as $204,000. The county will have to pay 100 percent of the difference between the two figures.
The main reason for the discrepancy lies in the length of time estimated to complete the project. The plan is to keep one lane of the bridge open at all times, which will seriously slow down the project.
Smith said the best-case estimate is a 25-week project, while INDOT estimates the project at 41 weeks.
Ricketts expressed his unhappiness with the inflated cost, but said the county has too much invested in the project at this point.
"We could've built a bridge for what this is going to cost us," Rickett said. "I don't like it, but it's too far gone now."
The extra money will be drawn from the cumulative bridge fund.
In other news:
* Houck Covered Bridge in Washington Township will be closed between June 2 and 17. After that, the new, modern bridge over Big Walnut Creek will be open for traffic.
The 134-year-old covered bridge will be open for tourism and foot traffic following the closure.
* Upstream in Madison Township, Oakalla Covered Bridge will be making a film cameo.
A production company from California recently contacted the highway department about the use of a covered bridge for scenes for a movie.
An inquiry was made about Dunbar Covered Bridge, but highway officials decided the road is too busy.
Instead, Oakalla, which sees limited traffic on County Road 375 East, will be utilized.
Filming will take place in June and will require the closure of the bridge for no more than 30 minutes at a time.