Engineer maps out roadwork for '19

CELINA - Mercer County Engineer Jim Wiechart said his office will once again spend a big chunk of next year's construction season chip-and-sealing county roads.

A few major capital projects and county road resurfacings are also in store for 2019, Wiechart said.

The department in recent years has intensified its chip-and-seal repair program to the highest levels in decades due to the rising cost of asphalt and other materials and the deterioration of some county roadways.

"So another big year for chip-and-seal, probably in the realm of 50 to 60 miles of that on county roads," Wiechart revealed to county commissioners while going over his proposed 2019 budget. "It's important for us to continue to try to achieve something close to that in the years to come."

With chip-and-seal, heated asphalt liquid is applied to the road surface and small rocks or chips are laid down. The process adds as much as five years to the life of a road and costs less than a quarter of the price of a full asphalt overlay.

Wiechart also plans to ramp up the use of fog seal after successfully experimenting with the process over the last few years. Fog seal is a light application of asphalt emulsion applied to the surface of a pavement after chip-and-seal as another cost-effective protection.

"Rather than at the 25 percent on fog seal we're going to notch that up to 50 percent ... on those chip-seal roads," he said.

Using a combination of Ohio Public Works Commission funds and local dollars, Wiechart's employees aim to resurface 11 miles of county roads next year.

"The longest strip would be a stretch of St. Peter Road from (State Route) 219 all the way south to Fort Recovery-Minster (Road). That's like 4.9 miles," county engineer office operations manager Brad Laffin added. "The rest of them are just mile-and-a-half here (and there), some roads that we have targeted."

Wiechart said at this pace, with 385 miles of roadway under its jurisdiction, the county is on a 30-year-plus paving rotation.

"It's a challenge sustainabilitywise as far as maintaining our pavements," he said.

He later noted the gas tax that helps fund roadway maintenance hasn't been changed since 2003.

"The reality is it's not indexed to inflation. The reality is it's a certain amount of cents per gallon so it's not a percentage and a lot of people don't realize that," Wiechart said.

Moving on, Wiechart said three major capital projects are slated for next year, the first of which got underway this year, the realignment of Wabash Road northeast of Fort Recovery in Recovery Township.

Kahlig Dozing & Excavating of Fort Recovery has already built the realigned section of road and put down base stone, he said. Next year, the old section of the road will be linked to the new section.

"Our crews also will be doing some smaller pipe and tile and then I think a little bit of dirt work associated with all those activities," he said.

The project will be funded by an OPWC no-interest loan and local funds, he said.

The second major project involves improving about a mile-long section of Sharpsburg Road near St. Peter Road, estimated at $900,000, with federal aid to pick up 80 percent of the cost, Wiechart said.

"The section of Sharpsburg Road will be improved both east and west," he said.

The last major capital project, a bridge and road alignment initiative, will take place on Tama Road between Wabash and State Route 49. Estimated at $900,000, 95 percent of the project will be financed through federal funds, Wiechart said, noting the county will apply credits earned by building bridges to federal standards with local funds.

"The steel beams and the steel superstructure (of the bridge) are starting to get some deterioration (and) really need some improvement," he said. "The steel superstructure will be removed. The abutments will be widened out and improved."

The other part involves a realignment of 1,200 feet of roadway to the west.

Also planned for next year are seven mostly smaller bridge projects and five large culvert replacements, Wiechart said. His office plans to make $445,000 in equipment purchases, including a dump truck, mower, road roller and smaller items.

The engineer's office budget - made up of a mix of local, state and federal funds - is broken down into three accounts. The engineer budget proposed for next year is $1.46 million, compared with the initial 2018 budget of $1.44 million; the engineer roads proposed budget for next year is $6.8 million, compared with the initial 2018 budget of $8.75 million; and the engineer bridge proposed budget for next year is $1.4 million compared with the initial 2018 budget of $710,490.