Work planned on seven Morgan County roads

Several roads around Morgan County will be worked on this summer. 6800 East and Croydon Road from 1800 North to the county line is the road most in need of reconstruction, Public Works Director Bret Heiner told the county commission April 2.

This summer after patching is completed on two sections the entire road will be treated with a hot mix asphalt overlay. Two feet wide shouldering will be done on both sides.

“When I came into this job we had about 16 roads what I call number one roads — I prioritize roads from one to four  —and number one is high priority, ones that need to be paved that are really in tough shape and we've narrowed that down to eight roads even with the bridge projects that we've had, and this right here narrows it down to three,” Heiner said.

Most of the funds for this project which is estimated will cost $206,800 will come from corridor preservation funds. If needed, the remaining funds could come from the Class B road contingency funds, Commission Chair Mike Newton said.

At the same meeting, commissioners approved $328,548  for maintenance work on six roads: Davis Drive, Wasatch Drive, Line Creek, Weber Drive, Daisy Drive (Iris to Silverstone), Silver Stone Road, and Silverstone Circle. These will be paid for with Class C road funds.

“The last three or four years we've had bridges in our way so we haven't done as much as we'd like but this year we did finally get one-time money and so that's going to help us out to get this bridge in Croydon taken care of and do some paving so that's what I've targeted these projects,” Heiner said.

“On the rough spots we actually do a little level course [a layer of asphaltic concrete] so if we've got a dip in this road we'll go in and do a level course and then we'll come back and we do about a 2-inch overlay, Heiner said.

Most of these roads haven't been overlaid, Heiner said, “so we've got some room to bring it up and they need to be brought up because most of them aren't crowned very good so we bring them up, we crown them so the water runs off,” he said. “If we can get rid of that water and shoulder the roads correctly and take care of that they're going to last a lot longer

Silver Leaf will not be included in this year’s project list event though it has a number of potholes project, Heiner said in response to a question from County Commissioner Blaine Fackrell.

“That’s on our list; I wouldn't be surprised if we if we do something pretty good on that next year,” he said. “There’s just not enough to go around -  these roads are actually worse so we're just going to have to deal with it and I'll do some repairs on those bad spots.”

The commission might be willing to consider a request for more funding in that case, Fackrell said. “I’m wondering, you're coming in with this one now but throughout the summer or the spring as people pop their tires and everything else on these potholes if we can somehow get something in there. If we have to use from [another road] fund please come and ask.”

Morgan County has never had all the funds it needs to maintain its roads properly, Commissioner Jared Anderson said. “Because we've never had enough money in BNC funds we're just trying to Band-Aid stuff the best we can, and I think we're getting in a much better position with the quarter-percent sales [tax] and things that are coming in where we can actually say, ‘here are some reconstruction projects.’ You can only put so many overlays on a road  before you have to reconstruct.” λ