CUSTER COUNTY— Roads were the main topic of discussion at the Custer County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, February 25, but if residents are hoping for roads to be fixed this year they will have to wait.
Brent Burklund, with TC Engineering, talked with the board about the study that they had conducted to help find a pricing point to help the county estimate what it would cost to fix the roads throughout the county.
While Burklund did give estimates on the cost of what types of fixes were possible, he did note there are a number of factors that could change the pricings. He also said that the study was conducted to help the board make decisions on which roads needed attention first.
During his presentation, Burklund gave a number of options to the board on the cost depending on what type of maintenance is to be done. For example, Burkland showed the board the low-end cost of fixes which was around $12,000/mile for a two-inch overlay of asphalt versus the high-end cost of over $23,000 for milling the old asphalt and laying down two inches of new asphalt.
Discussions continued around what to do concerning the roads where the board decided that additional traffic counts were needed on a handful of roads to help refine the data. Burkland had suggested during his presentation that Weisert Road, Sumner Road, and Ryno Road were three of the county controlled roads that needed to have traffic counts completed to help gain a better understanding of how much traffic is on them.
The board agreed and Custer County Highway Superintendent Chris Jacobsen said that he would direct his crews to place the traffic counters when the weather made it possible.
While work continues on figuring out what to do with the roads, Jacobsen said that it would be at least a year before any major road work could be done, due to the county bridge match projects and the FEMA bridges that have priority in 2020. He did say that there would be asphalt operations taking place throughout the year, but they would strictly be for maintenance.
While no decisions were made concerning the roads, the board did approve the Community Development Block Grant Deed of Reconveyance, a permanent easement agreement, and the Nebraska Safety and Fire Equipment contract agreement which increased to $225 for each annual inspection of the judicial center sprinkler system.
Also approved was the $48,000 special purchase of a 2014 Freightliner after no additional bids or quotes were received concerning the purchase.
