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Messy road improvements causing chagrin for motorists
When roads aren’t getting fixed, people get mad.
When roads are getting fixed, people also get mad.
The Putnam County Highway Department has begun doing double chip and seal work on county roads and the Putnam County Commissioners have begun getting calls about it.
“We know that we are working on roads because we are making people mad,” Commissioner Rick Woodall said during board’s Monday meeting.
The process of grind and double chip and seal involves grinding up the existing road surface, then applying oil and millings to create a new surface.
Woodall called it “a nasty, oily process” until the rock is down.
“But it’s the only way you can rebuild a road,” Woodall said. “With the size of the farm equipment and the weight these days, it’s the only way we can rebuild these roads within our means.”
In 2021, the plan is for 10.32 miles of new hot mix asphalt — which is 75 percent paid for by the state through a $1 million Community Crossing Grant — as well as 32.65 miles of chip and seal work and 28 miles of grind and double chip and seal.
Even during the process, the Putnam County Highway Department tries to keep the roads open to local traffic, though it encourages a speed limit of five miles per hour until after the rock is applied.
When motorists exceed this speed, they end up with oily messes on their vehicles.
“It’s an absolutely horrible thing to get off your vehicle,” Woodall said.
With that in mind, Woodall and fellow Commissioners David Berry and Tom Helmer encouraged motorists to slow down in such work zones, such as County Road 1100 North between 100 East and Bainbridge-Roachdale Road, where work was being performed this week.
In other business:
• The Commissioners approved raising the credit card limit for Putnam County EMS from $1,400 to $3,000.
EMS Chief Kelly Russ noted that the increase is for emergency repairs to the ambulance fleet. She said some recent maintenance issues have come up on weekends or holidays and the agency has had trouble finding companies who will invoice.
Instead, Deputy Chief Anthony Taylor has put the expenditures on his personal credit card and requested reimbursement.
The Commissioners granted the request unanimously.
Russ also noted that the new ambulance was delivered a few weeks ago and that the remodel of the office is now complete.
• The Commissioners discussed the recent improvement in parking conditions around the Putnam County Courthouse.
A memo to all Courthouse employees was sent out several weeks ago prohibiting them from parking on the square, thus making room for customers of the Courthouse and downtown businesses alike.
However, Woodall said maintaining this situation is now the goal. He said he’s been in discussion with City of Greencastle leaders to make sure enforcement of the two-hour limit around the Courthouse is maintained.
Helmer also brought up a recent parking issue in which a woman was ticketed for being backed into one of the angled spaces.
Her complaint was that the jail van backs in when it brings inmates downtown for court.
In the meeting, however, it was noted that the van is backing into a larger loading zone and that there is really no safe way to unload the inmates otherwise.
“That’s not going to change,” Woodall said. “It (the jail van) is going to be backed in all the time.”
• Woodall noted a recent Banner Graphic story regarding the Russellville Town Council.
In the story, Russellville Clerk-Treasurer Martha Mandleco said she was approached by Thrive West Central about partnering on a blight removal grant for ruined buildings downtown which the county owns.
Woodall was a bit miffed to read about the proposal in this way, as the county worked for four years to purchase those buildings specifically because they were an unsafe eyesore. The plan is for the county to tear them down.
Woodall said he plans to contact Thrive about the matter.
• Edgelea resident Scott Bieniek discussed recent road and water problems in his neighborhood.
Bieniek said the issues are happening along the path taken by a semi that is being parked in the neighborhood by one of the property owners.
And while the City of Greencastle, which supplies water to the neighborhood, has fixed the water lines, the roads belong to the county.
With no homeowner’s association, the neighborhood residents can’t do anything to prevent the semi, which Bieniek said is often fully loaded, from parking there.
Officials don’t believe load limits are the answer, as delivery trucks have to be able to get into the neighborhood, and there are farmers who need the roads for access to their fields.
Bieniek, who is a local attorney, suggested that the county restrict overnight, on-street parking.
County Attorney Jim Ensley was not in attendance on Monday, but Woodall said he would speak to Ensley about the possibility.
The next meeting of the Putnam County Commissioners is set for Tuesday, July 6 at 9 a.m. on the first floor of the Putnam County Courthouse. The Commissioners are not meeting on Monday, as the Courthouse will be closed in observance of Independence Day.