By HOLLY GASKILL
Several new roads have been added to a schedule of upcoming road conversions from gravel to chip seal.
Wells County organizes its road conversions through a process of petitions and right-of-way donations. County Engineer Nate Rumschlag annually updates this categorization to reflect the newest data.
At Monday’s County Commissioner meeting, Rumschlag presented three new mile sections to the line-up of upcoming conversions — Meridian Road from 1000N to 1100N, 750E from 650N to 750N, and 650N from 750E to 800E. Their completion has not yet been scheduled.
In 2024, the Highway Department plans to complete 100N from 500W to 600W, 450E from 250S to 300S, 625S from Ind. 3 to Willow Road.
Rumschlag also stated four new mile sections received 100 percent of the petitions, an application that denotes the property owners’ interest in road conversion. These roads are: 700W from 700s to 800S willow, 1050S from 500E to 600E, 500W from 600N to 700N, and 800E from 100N to 200N.
Each section then moves forward in the process, and the property owners will receive paperwork to donate the necessary ROW for a chip seal road. In many areas, this increases the ROW from 16-18 ft. to 30 ft. Rumschlag noted a few roads have nearly 100 percent of their petitions and will also receive this paperwork.
Two road sections also went into a dormant status. Rumschlag said some property owners on these roads expressed they no longer wanted their roads changed despite having petitioned for conversion.
“Until they have a change of heart, it’s not worth the county spending the money doing the paperwork if they have no interest in doing the project as it is proposed,” Rumschlag said. “It actually kind of frees that up because we’ll move other projects up.
Commissioner Jeff Stringer emphasized he would like to see bus routes prioritized, as he’s received multiple complaints regarding their safety in the winter and dust in warmer months. Rumshlag said he would continue to work toward completing those stretches, particularly on Meridian Road, but they can’t move forward without the property owners’ participation.
The official road conversion schedule will soon be posted on the Highway Department’s website.
The commissioners also approved two bids for work on Bridge 85 and Bridge 170 — Pioneer Association will complete Bridge 85 for $236,511.20 and Jutte Excavating will complete Bridge 170 for $569,344. Both projects have a target completion date of May 2024.
holly@news-banner.com
