The Marshall County Highway Department began a major road reclamation project on Monday with the listing of 43 miles of roadways with PASER ratings of 1 to 3, that are to be ground this year as part of the reconstruction process. The plan presented said the roads would be resurfaced over the next 2 to 5 year.
As part of the project, the county highway on Monday laid crushed concrete and limestone on a stretch of road. That material was to be ground with the asphalt in an effort to help stabilize the base when the road is ground. The size of the crushed product, which was given to the county, was oversized and people jumped on social media to bring it to everyone’s attention.
The Marshall County Commissioners have received calls, driven the area and spoken with concerned citizens.
As a result of the social media “blow up” Marshall County Commissioner posted the following comment on Facebook.
“No doubt many of you have seen messages and reports about some of the road reclamation going on in the county. The original plan was to grind 42 miles of road and grade into it aggregate to establish a better base in places where needed. Wednesday morning at 7:00 a.m. I asked that we discontinue the process of spreading large aggregate onto the road surfaces if they were not immediately ready for grading. I received two calls Tuesday about a road where this was done and visited the site that evening. I have also asked that we scale back the effort so that all roads graded this year, unless there is just cause to leave them gravel in perpetuity, be planned for resurfacing through the Community Crossings grant program late summer/fall. I will make that motion at our next commissioners’ meeting and hope that Commissioners Delp and Overmyer will support it, along with members of the Council who will have to appropriate funds from Rainy Day.
Believe me, I get that the one tangible county service that every resident interacts with on a regular basis is the road in front of their home. While our budget is incredibly tight, and insufficient to keep up with maintenance without Council providing additional funds, there is still no excuse for some of the conditions experienced this week. And I do apologize for that.”
Marshall County Commissioner Mike Delp said the County Highway Department should finish the grinding as far as they can this week since they have rented the reclaimer machine for the week. He said he would not be in favor of any more grinding until an evaluation of what was done this week and an assessment of what was ground up last year was completed.
Delp said, “Then the commissioner’s help Jason prioritize what roads that we hard surface this summer (either double chip/seal or pug paving ) .
Delp closed his comments, as he did on WTCA Thursday morning saying, “We need to do a better job of communicating with the public several weeks ahead of our projects.”
