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The micro-surfacing of 20 miles of Union County’s secondary roads is complete, and work is set to begin on more extensive projects in the coming weeks.
Road projects began in May and are expected to continue through fall, with major projects on REA Road starting in mid-August and Creamery Road starting at the end of August.
“Just to paint you a picture, we have three major projects this summer,” Union County Engineer Zach Gunsolley said. “We’ve completed one of three. It was a large one miles-wise. But the more substantial project as far as cost is later on this summer. That’s Creamery Road and portions of REA Road, the part at the Cherry Street end and the part at the Lorimor end.
“That’s going to go into the fall until either the daylight hours or the temperature tells us to stop. We’re going to go as long as we can this fall,” he added. “The road surface temperature must be at least 40 degrees Fahrenheit.”
Work on REA Road is forecasted to start in mid-August and will be a complete reconstruction that will close the road to through traffic with completion and reopening expected after Labor Day.
“What we need to do is start from the ground up all over again on that road,” Gunsolley said, “so we’re tearing out that road 6 inches down and building it back up with a new geogrid for strengthening the sub-base. Then, we’re adding millings from the old road, compacting that into place and then new asphalt on top of that.”
Millings, Gunsolley explained, is the old road surface that has been recycled, rolled out and compacted so it doesn’t move when the new asphalt is laid out.
Construction on Creamery Road will start in about a month and a half, Gunsolley said. The Creamery Road project is another reconstruction project, but won’t be as extensive as REA Road.
The old asphalt on Creamery Road will be removed to the concrete underlay and then new asphalt will be laid down. The road will be open to through traffic with a pilot car and flaggers directing traffic.
The budget for all secondary road projects was $5.1 million. Some of the money came from the reappropriation of money previously used for paying off Crestland Co-op bonds. Other money came from the county’s farm-to-market funds.
There has been only one unexpected surprise so far, Gunsolley said. The final cost on the first project came in under budget.
“The amount authorized by the supervisors was $1,032,962.69 and the final cost was $986,471.69,” he said, “so, $46,491, if my math is correct, or the equivalent of about 4.5 percent under budget. So, we were pleasantly surprised with that, but we had some controls in place to ensure that any surprises were corrected quickly.”
Besides the two remaining large projects, Gunsolley said they would be doing a seal coat on a different part of REA Road for prevention of future issues and maintenance. This project is expected to take no more than a few days and should not disrupt travel.