County to soon begin looking at future asphalt projects

The condition of some county roads and the plan to upgrade them continues to be the topic of discussion at Bourbon County Commission meetings.

On Monday, Jerry Simmons attended the meeting to ask if the commissioners could create a two-year plan and to asphalt Limestone Road.

"We are running east of 250th and north on 250th, which were the main areas of concern as far as bad roads," Public Works Director Jim Harris said. "I think what Jerry's looking for, and the residents out there, is, can we come up with a two-year plan to pave part of it this year, or in the spring, then come back the following year and pave a last part of it."

"I may be just guessing, but I've been trying to figure out why it got to be hard surface to begin with?" Second District Commissioner Barbara Albright asked.

She said there are about 2.5 miles of hard surface in that area, but Harris said there is about one mile in front of Simmons' residence, then another half mile after the road turns.

Albright said she thinks the road was made hard surface to accommodate a trucking firm located in the area.

"Actually that was kind of where it got started," Simmon said. "But it wasn't due to the trucking."

Simmons said he and his wife were staying at his brother-in-law's house for a period of time. One day, a truck driver "turned it completely side-ways in the road" because the road was either rough rock, or muddy.

One determining factor in whether is road is high-priority on the upgrade list is the traffic count. Harris said a count has not been completed on Limestone, but he would have that done this week.

Albright said she and Harris have looked at the road and it is "still kind of messed up a little bit west."

"What we're experiencing is we'll patch here, then a hundred feet to the west it comes apart," Harris said. "I can understand these residents not wanting gravel, but the commission as a group has to go forward with a plan."

Asphalting the road is a long-term solution.

"And you can't let what happened this time happen again," Albright said.

"I need direction -- if we're going to consider a benefit district or continue to patch it," Harris said. "If we was going to mill it this fall, we'd do like 240th, get all the equipment out there, compact it and put MC30 out there."

"I would think we'd have to do Jayhawk before we do Limestone because of the severity and number of traffic," Albright said.

Harris said he is also planning to get a traffic count on Jayhawk Road this week.

She said she expects the traffic count will be higher on Jayhawk Road than on Limestone Road.

"One of the points on this road is, when I talked to Doug Hurd, and he said, 'You know, I built on a hard surface road,'" Albright said.

Simmons said the residents in the area are not happy, but Albright said everyone she has talked to has been "pleasant" and "courteous" towards her.

"I'm sure it's disheartening when you've been on a hard surface road," Albright said.

Harris said if the road is going to be put back as an asphalt road, the base work could be done before winter and "let Mother Nature" help pack it over the winter.

Albright said she misinformed one resident by telling them the county would mill the road and spread oil to help pack it.

"But that would not be done until we make the decision to make it a hard-surface road," Albright said.

"Once the commission makes the decision to make it hard-surface, then we will move forward," Harris said.

"The only thing I've been 100 percent on is making it safer," Albright said.

She said people were driving in ditches to avoid potholes and others have had damage to their tire rims.

Simmons asked how bad the road was in the Rock Creek area, which the county made improvements to last year. That area had been a benefit district, in which residents paid an additional $100 per year on their taxes for 10 years in order to fund the asphalt work.

"And then it had never been resurfaced," Albright said.

"It had been chip and sealed one time, then it got so bad," Commission Chairman Allen Warren said.

Albright said since she has been on the commission for the past two years, the county has not established any additional benefit districts. She said based on her research, it has been about 12 years since a benefit district has been established.

"I can see why they did them," Albright said. "But if you do them, they have to be maintained."

"And that's the issue," Warren said.

The county created a hard-surface plan to begin this year. According to the schedule, those roads that are being asphalted this year will be chip and sealed in the future.

"We've worked on a plan through 2015. We have not taken it any further than that at this point," Warren said. "At the end of this season, I hope we can assess where we're at, make adjustments to the 2015 plan and add a 2016 plan."

Albright said the goal is to have 12 miles completed this summer, then do chip and seal work beginning in August. However, the work is not going as quickly as it was hoped. Harris said rain has caused some delays with the asphalt work.

"We won't get to it this year," Albright said. "You want it done right, but it certainly is on our radar."

"The bad places have been milled that were east of 250th and north on 250th," Harris said. "We have taken care of severe areas and we've milled."

Harris said he expects a crew to complete milling work in that area Monday.

"As for Limestone, we'll just have to move forward and plan what everyone wants to do," Harris said.

Albright said ditch work also needs to be done on Limestone Road. Harris said he doesn't want to do any work in the ditches until a decision is made on the road. However, no matter what is decided for the road, the ditch work will need to be done, Harris said.

Later, Harris made a formal recommendation for the commissioners to consider overlaying Limestone 240th to 255th, then north on 250th between Limestone and Locust roads in 2015.