Elizabeth Bailey
Greensburg Daily News
May 05, 2008 10:52 pm
—
As summer rapidly approaches, so does the season for work on bridges, roads and budgets.
The Decatur County Commissioners heard from Mike Waldron of Butler, Fairman and Seufert on the topic of the early 20th century Bridge 19. The bridge has been closed for some time, but steps are now being taken toward it coming back into service. The first step is to do core samples with a hollow auger to learn what the foundation is depending upon. If the samples go down 70 feet, the estimated cost will be $22,600, but this is applicable for credit through the state.
The commissioners expressed the depth before bedrock will likely be much shorter, leading to a smaller pricetag. Still, the road will be long before area residents can once again drive across the bridge.
Work is expected to begin May 12 on the Westport Covered Bridge. It will be closed during the day while it is being cleaned and painted but is expected to be finished before May 30. This means it will be looking its best for the Covered Bridge Festival on June 7, Mark Mohr, county highway superintendent, said.
Requests for proposals have been received and scored for bridges 115 and 190. The Indiana Department of Transportation has approved Butler, Fairman and Seufert to conduct necessary studies and engineering.
Mohr also presented the results of a 24-hour traffic study conducted in St. Omer. Westbound traffic proved to be nearly twice as heavy as that heading east, with 1,391 cars compared to the eastbound 715. Speed studies showed some vehicles traveling westbound at more than 60 miles per hour in the 30 mile per hour zone and more than 70 miles per hour heading east.
According to regulations, a road is not required to be striped until it’s traffic reaches 6,000 or more cars per day. This means any striping would be at the county’s discretion.
Mohr has contacted the state to find out if there is information about previous striping from the time when the road was under state jurisdiction. If the information can be used in lieu of a new study, striping could be done less expensively.
Still, county attorney Peg Polanski noted the county would have to plan and prioritize so an explanation could be given in case questions of liability were raised before all roads were striped. Until solid criteria are determined, she said it would be unwise to stripe just one road above all others.
In the wake of state legislation removing assessment from the purview of township trustees, Tami Wenning, county assessor, came to the commissioners to talk about the process of an orderly transition.
The attorney general has yet to give its ruling on the new law, leaving local officials with little knowledge of how it is to be implemented. Still, it must be done on or before July 1. Determinations of whether township assessors and trustees are to be compensated through the end of their terms have yet to be made. A meeting will be held on May 15 to work on the process. Wenning hopes there will be more information by that time.
The commissioners approved a request posed by Bryan Robbins of HOTTCity for Ratio Architects to create drawings of updates for the county parking lot. The diagrams are not a promise of construction, but a starting point in securing funding for the project. This would be the first step toward enhancing the downtown.
The commissioners also signed the documents for the bonds for Honda. The manufacturer will be buying the approximately $22 million of bonds, which will be managed by Bank of New York Trust Company. The bank will hold the bond proceeds as well as tax incremental finance revenues for use to pay back the bonds and conduct utility projects.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.