Darke County, townships partner to improve roads

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GREENVILLE — Road construction season in Darke County is in full swing and will extend through the summer into fall on many county and township roads.

At its Wednesday session, the Darke County Board of Commissioners voted to accept a $2,015,827.48 bid from Walls Bros. Asphalt for resurfacing of more than 27 miles of county and township roads. Approximately $830,000 will be spent on the township roads, while more than $1.185 million was slated for county road resurfacing. In all, $2.015 million will be spent on the joint Darke County-Townships venture.

The project, partially funded by an Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC) grant of $800,000, will resurface 12.162 miles of township roads in 10 different townships as well as 14.06 miles of county roads. Approximately $1.3 million of the joint project will be funded by the county and the various townships involved.

Darke County Engineer Jim Surber called the Walls Bros. bid “very fair” and said the project between the county and townships has been in the works for more than two years.

“More than two years ago I was formulating this project, and told the townships the first 10 to get their paperwork in would be able to participate,” he explained, adding he hoped to replicate the partnership between the county and the other 10 townships in Darke County in 2019.

Surber also said the county is now using a newly developed asphalt mix, Darke 404-LV, formulated in consultation the Walls Bros. and the John R. Jurgensen Company of Cincinnati.

“We’re very, very pleased with it,” he said. “It has a 13 percent higher asphalt mix than the state mix. We have high hopes it’s going to perform a lot better.” Surber said the new mix has recently been applied on portions of Meeker Road, Pitsburg-Laura Road, Frazers Road, and Hollansburg-Sampson Road.

Among the township roads slated for resurfacing are: Conover Road in Wayne Township; Oakes Road in Monroe Township; Billman Road in Harrison Township; Loop and Littles Roads in Twin Township; Ansonia-Elroy Road in Brown Township; Painter Creek-Arcanum Road in Franklin Township; New Harrison-Bradford Road and Stahl Road in Adams Township; Hillgrove-Woodington Road in Jackson Township; Wabash York Road in York Township; and Wildcat Road in Washington Township.

Surber said the cost estimate for the township roads is $70,000 per mile for 1.5 inches of ashphalt (11,059 tons) laid in two courses over tack coat with shoulder aggregate applied following paving.

Each township is allotted $40,000 in grant funds, totaling $400,000, or half the OPWC grant amount. The other $400,000 will be used for county road resurfacing.

County roads being resurfaced include: Hogpath Road (from State Route 571 to the Miami County Line); New Madison-Coletown Road (from Hollansburg-Sampson Road to State Route 502); Requarth Road (from Greenville Corp. to Arcanum-Bears Mill Road); and Chase Road (from Old State Route 242 to State Route 121).

The cost estimate for county road resurfacing is $78,700 per mile for 1.5 inches of asphalt (2.5 inches on Chase Road, 16,310 tons of asphalt total), laid in two courses over tack coat with shoulder aggregate applied following paving.

Surber said an additional $125,738 may be allotted for pavement treatment at the option of the county engineer and township trustees.

Work on the roads is slated to begin in the latter part of July. All resurfacing is required to be completed before September 15, 2017.

A $2 million joint project between Darke County and 10 county townships will see a number of county and township roads resurfaced between July and September. Shown is recently resurfaced Meeker Road, south of Greenville.
https://www.dailyadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/web1_Meeker-0629-PRINT.jpgA $2 million joint project between Darke County and 10 county townships will see a number of county and township roads resurfaced between July and September. Shown is recently resurfaced Meeker Road, south of Greenville. Erik Martin | The Daily Advocate

By Erik Martin

[email protected]

The writer may be reached at 937-569-4314. Join the conversation and get updates on Facebook search Darke County Sports or Advocate 360. For more features online go to dailyadvocate.com

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