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During a business-heavy meeting covering a number of topics Wednesday morning, Marshall County Engineer Paul Geilenfeldt addressed the Board of Supervisors about the five-year secondary roads program and received approval on his budget for fiscal year 2024.
According to a document provided as part of the meeting packet, there are several major projects on the county's agenda for the upcoming fiscal year, including hot mix asphalt (HMA) paving replacement at the Wolf Lake subdivision at a cost of $1.5 million, resurfacing with milling on S62 from Bangor to the Hardin County line at a cost of $1.4 million, E41 resurfacing with milling from the Story County line east to State Center at a cost of $1.3 million and a replacement of Bridge D16 over Minerva Creek at a cost of $1.2 million. Of the projects, Wolf Lake will be paid for using local funding, while the two other roads mentioned will utilize farm-to-market funds and the bridge will receive federal aid through a 2021 bridge replacement grant. The engineer said he is still working to develop a "feasible plan" to fund the Wolf Lake project.
According to Geilenfeldt, the projects listed with accomplishment year of FY24 are "locks" that they fully plan and intend to complete before June 30, 2024. The other years, he added, are "reasonable estimations" of what the department will be able to do.
"Thanks to inflation, we've seen construction prices go up quite a bit over the last two years, so it's hard to program out three, four years and guess what inflation's do," he said. "We currently think we can fund these projects."
Another note, in his words, was that sometimes bridges program themselves as they begin to deteriorate and show a need for repair or replacement, citing a bridge in the northwest part of the county on Marble Road currently not programmed until 2028 as potentially in need of being moved up.
A few major projects further down the line include the resurfacing of E29 with milling from Eastman Avenue eight miles east to Marsh Avenue at an estimated cost of $2.6 million and HMA paving from Marble Road (E18) east to 190th Street at an estimated cost of $2.3 million.
Supervisor Steve Salasek asked Geilenfeldt if plans for 260th Street and Ridge Road were progressing, and he responded that it hadn't yet gone much past the concept phase. Referencing a conversation about the Blood Dairy Farm area near State Center earlier in the meeting, Supervisor Carol Hibbs also suggested monitoring that situation to see if improvements will be needed there.
The board unanimously passed three separate motions to approve the FY24 secondary roads budget of $12,329,543.87, the five-year construction plan and an FY23 budget amendment.
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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.