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One of the biggest projects the Scioto County Engineers office undertook in 2012 was a straightening and realignment project on Frederick Road (CR17) in Bloom Township.
“After the significant rainfall which pulverized Scioto County the previous year, 2012 seemed rather tame in that regard.” states Craig Opperman, Scioto County Engineer. “While County Engineer crews continued their cleanup and repair efforts into the new year we were able, due to efficient planning, to complete the last of those emergency projects and move forward with our scheduled projects for 2012 in a steadfast manner.”
One of our biggest projects of the year for the County Engineer’s crews was a straightening and realignment project on Frederick Road (CR17) in Bloom Township. This project involved the replacement of a deteriorated corrugated metal culvert that was inadequate in size with a new adequately sized 6’ wide by 4’ tall by 42’ long concrete box culvert. The project also involved the relocation of 850 feet of roadway to increase site distance and improve horizontal alignment as well as raising the vertical elevation to reduce the frequency of flooding in the area. The location of this project was 3.40 miles east of Bennett School House-South Webster Road. All design and construction work of this project was completed by the Scioto County Engineer’s office staff and work crews.
In an effort to stay on top of the constant maintenance needs of our roadway surfaces Craig Opperman, County Engineer, applied for and was awarded $410,285.00 in Ohio Public Works Issue 1 monies. With a 50 percent match in Motor Vehicle and Gasoline Tax monies the engineer’s office was able to lay 8.02 miles of 404 Hot Mix Asphalt on County Roads. These roads included Careys Run-Pond Creek Road in Washington Township, Downtown Hayport Road in Porter Township, Junior Furnace-Powellsville Road in Green Township and Swauger Valley Road in Harrison Township. Also included in this project was 0.154 miles in the Village of New Boston. The County Engineer initiated and entered into a cooperative agreement with the New Boston Village Administrators, which afforded New Boston Village the opportunity to make a much needed improvement on portions of two heavily traveled roads at a minimum of cost to them. The Shelly Company was awarded the contract with their low bid.
Besides the Hot Mix Paving in 2012, county crews cold mix paved 2.48 miles on Cramer Road (Morgan Township) for a total cost of $57,977.54, and chip and sealed 41.06 miles of all or portions of 19 county roads at a cost of $391,210.49.
Again this year the aggressive efforts of obtaining outside grant assistance for the county bridge projects paid off. The Scioto Engineer was able to obtain $689,241.60 in funding from State Issue 1 which amounted to 80 percent of the project cost with the remaining 20 percent paid with County Engineer Motor Vehicle and Gas Tax funds. The funded bridge projects included Kendall Road in Madison Township at a cost of $418,000.00 (low bidder DGM, Inc); Van Crabtree Road in Morgan Township at a total cost of $187,345.00 (J&H Reinforcing and Structural Erectors, Inc., low bidder); and Simpson Road in Rush Township a total cost of $256,207.00 (U.S. Bridge low bidder).
Scioto County Engineer’s crews continued to be busy designing, fabricating and installing three-sided box culverts. These box culverts were installed on five county roads; Bennett School House Road in Harrison Township at a cost of $34,931.59, Essman Sugar Camp Road in Bloom Township at a cost of $38,130.00, Lick Run-Lyra Road in Bloom Township at a cost of $34,941.93, Neff-Bratton Road also in Bloom Township at a cost of $25,134.84, and there were three installed in various locations on Swauger Valley Road in Harrison Township at a total cost of $76,601.89. The county also replaced three-sided box culverts on five township roads. They were located on Bihl Road (a project with Vernon Township) at a cost of $37,139.75, McLaughlin Road (a project with Jefferson Township) at a cost of $30,857.11, Sheep Ranch Hollow (a project with Rush Township, at a cost of $24,508.65, West Street in Valley Township at a cost of $44,755.46 and Whitley Lane in Harrison Township at a cost of $28,765.87.
In addition the county purchased five box culverts from the manufacturer that were installed on Clinton Furnace Road and Poplar Fork Road in Vernon Township, Lick Run-Lyra Road in Bloom Township, Crabtree Cemetery Road, (a project with Brush Creek Township) and Lybrook Road (a project with Clay Township). These were purchased and installed at total cost of $75,861.56.
Twenty-seven concrete pipes were installed along various Scioto County roads by county crews. The sizes of the pipes varied from 2.5 feet to 5.5 feet in diameter. There was a total of 1,172 feet of concrete pipe installed along the county roads. The total cost of this project was $187,592.70. In addition to the concrete pipes county crews installed 1,560 feet of plastic pipes in thirty-eight various locations along county roads at a cost of $79,272.14.
July 2012 saw the continuation of the Guardrail program implemented by Craig Opperman, County Engineer in 2010. “We applied again this year for funds through the County Engineers Association of Ohio’s Highway Safety Improvement Progam,” Craig Opperman stated, “and were notified that our application was approved in the amount of $300,000. Coupled with $37,870 in Motor Vehicles and Gasoline Tax revenues we were able to install 20,818.75 feet of guardrail along county roads and make them safer.” This years project was spread out in Bloom, Harrison and Madison Townships and consisted of
Bennett School House South Webster Road, Stockham Road, Frederick Road, Kentucky Trail-Haines Road and Laurel Lick Road. County crews removed roadside hazards and widened and graded shoulders to prepare for the installation of new guardrail. Lake Erie Construction Company was awarded the contract to install the new guardrail with plastic blockouts and steel posts.
The County Engineer’s Department continued its efforts of evaluating the load carrying capacity of the County Engineer maintained bridges. This program involves the calculation or determination of safe load capacity based upon state rating criteria. This year’s project included the load rating of 12 bridges of various structure types throughout the county. Euthenics, Inc. of Strongville Ohio was selected to perform the load ratings at a cost of $37,980.00 which was paid 100% with grant monies obtained through the County Engineers Association of Ohio LBR and Credit Bridge Programs.
The County Engineer’s sign upgrade program continued through 2012 with 335 additional signs being installed at a cost of $12,765.22 of which $10,212.18 was paid through grant monies and the remaining $2,553.04 being paid with County Engineer’s motor vehicles and gasoline tax monies. This program involves replacing the county sign inventory with brighter more intense signs to meet Federal Highway Administration requirements.
In a related community minded effort the County Engineer initiated an Assistance Agreement for interested Townships to aid in the cost of upgrading signs on township maintained roads. Eleven of the sixteen Scioto County townships requested to participate in this program which involved the removal of the old existing signs and erecting new reflective signs. The participating townships were Bloom, Brush Creek, Clay, Green, Jefferson, Morgan, Nile, Porter, Rarden, Valley and Vernon. The townships were responsible for advising the County Engineer of all locations where new signs were to be erected and for erecting the signs. The Townships are also responsible for the maintenance of these signs once they were erected. This project was made possible through grant monies acquired by the County Engineer. The total cost of this cooperative project was $49,306.89 which involved an 80/20 percent split for cost of the signs and hardware with 80% being paid from grant monies and 20% of the cost being paid from local funds.
Again this year, the employees of the Scioto County Engineer’s Office continued to perform the day-to-day activities of the office to keep progress moving forward for all of Scioto County’s infrastructure in all weather conditions.
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