Roads set for ’19 conversion

If all goes well, the county will begin to convert 2.7 miles of stone road in 2019.

Jay County Commissioners during their regular meeting Thursday approved spending the $400,000 budgeted for road conversion in 2019 on 2.7 miles of road on county roads 200 West, 300 South and 350 South.

They also agreed to purchase software for the highway department and approved a change in insurance companies for dental, vision, life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance.

Commissioners president Chuck Huffman, who also chairs the road committee, presented the recommendation to convert just over a mile of county road 200 West between county road 400 South and Mount Pleasant Road, about three-quarters of a mile of county road 300 South extending east from county road 200 West and a half mile of county road 350 South extending east from county road 200 West. County road 350 South is already chip-and-seal from county road 100 West to just beyond Bickel’s Equipment Rental, and county road 300 South is already chip-and-seal between county road 100 West and Blaine Pike.

“We would like to do more than that, hope we can on a yearly basis going forward,” said Huffman.

Commissioners also approved the procedure for which roads will be converted. It calls for a 20-foot-wide road with a 2-foot shoulder and 50-foot right of way. The base will be a minimum of 12 inches deep, with three layers of chip and seal on top. The entirety of the conversion could take two to three years, based on timing and weather. (Highway department superintendent Ken Wellman noted that most roads being looked at for conversion from stone to a hard surface are 14 to 16 feet wide.)

The goal is to recruit a local resident to work with property owners on obtaining the necessary rights of way as well as discussing the need to move drains and mailboxes to accommodate the widened roads. Huffman noted that changes will require unanimous agreement from affected property owners.

“At this point, we’re not looking to get into battles of eminent domain or anything like that,” he said. “We’re hoping people will be happy enough to have their road hard-surfaced that they will approve.”

Also on the topic of roads, commissioners congratulated county engineer Dan Watson on being awarded a grant to reimburse the county for paving that is currently underway on Boundary Pike and county road 500 West. They also expressed excitement that other grant applications, using economic development dollars from Bluff Point Wind Energy Center as matching funds, were approved for paving in Salamonia, Bryant and Pennville.

“What better way to use it than to be able to use it to leverage 75 percent more funds,” agreed Watson, noting that those smaller communities would not have otherwise been able to afford such paving projects.

Watson said the grant approved for the county will free up money for additional paving next year, with sections of Mount Pleasant and Como roads as top priorities. He also mentioned that Indiana Department of Transportation plans to repair U.S. 27 bridges near Portland Golf Club and Bloomfield Elementary School next year in addition to widening and paving the intersection of Indiana 67 and Tyson Road.

Commissioners also approved using the $100,000 they set aside for road paving in the area of Bluff Point Wind Energy Center to be used on Treaty Line Road between county roads 200 East and 300 East.

Commissioners Mike Leonhard, Barry Hudson and Huffman also OK’d spending $6,995 for a software program through Softworks that will be used to track and document the highway department’s activity.

(The department already had two other software programs from Softworks that were not being used but will work in tandem with the “Daily Crew Worksheet” that will be added.) Also approved was a maintenance agreement at a cost of $1,195.