Programs

 

Pavement Management Program

  1. Crack Sealing, every 3-5 years
  2. Armor Coat and Microsurfacing
  3. Asphalt Resurfacing, approximately every 20 years
  4. Highway Paint Striping, every 3-5 years
  5. Inventory
  6. Inspection
  7. Priority Resurfacing
  8. Federal Aid and State Scenic Recreation Funds

Phelps County has 86.1 miles of hard surfaced roads of which 81.1 miles are asphalt and 5 miles are concrete. 20.4 miles or 24% need resurfaced. Federal aid for 80% funding of the 20.4 miles for resurfacing has been applied for. In 1994, 44% or 36 miles needed resurfacing. 25.8 miles have been resurfaced since 1994. 3.5 miles of new asphalt surfacing was added on the river road in the fall of 2001. Six tenths of a mile of crushed concrete base and armor coat has been added to the hard surfaced road system since 2002.

Gravel Road Program

  1. Gravel Inspection and Ordering
  2. Cost Analysis/Inventory
  3. Documentation of Roads Maintained
  4. Minimum Maintenance Roads
  5. Priority Maintenance
  6. Base Stabilization
  7. Gravel Bids

We maintain 745.9 miles of gravel roads, which includes blading, snow removal, etc. There are 116 miles of minimum maintenance roads for a total of 861.9 miles of gravel and dirt roads.

Culvert Program concrete box culver

  1. Inventory
  2. Replacement Priority
  3. Bids, purchase and installation
  4. Inspections, every 5 years
  5. Design

There are 1700 culverts in the county with approx. 117 or 7% structurally deficient. Our goal is to replace 30 per year with county forces and contractors. There were 365 culverts that were structurally deficient when the inspection and inventory was conducted during the winter of 1994-95. We have replaced 248 culverts since 1994.

Bridge Program bridge

  1. Inventory
  2. Replacement Priority, including those under 20 feet
  3. Soft Match, State and Federal Aid Funding
  4. Inspection, every 2 years on bridges 20 feet and longer and every 4 years on structures under 20 feet

Maintenance

We have 85 bridges that are 20' or longer with 10, or 12%, structurally deficient. Two will not be replaced when they are closed, three are on the federal aid replacement list and the remainder are not critical. Fifteen concrete box culverts have been built since 1994- replacing deficient bridges or culverts. Five structures are scheduled for replacement in 2005.

There are presently 124 bridges under 20' in length. Of these 124 bridges, 84 are functionally obsolete which means they are too narrow for today's traffic.

Signing Program

  1. County Wide Inventory
  2. Daily Inspection by Maintainer Operators
  3. Full Time Sign Technician with Equipped Sign Truck
  4. Training for Sign Technician
  5. Written Documentation of Sign Repair and Installation
  6. Bids and Purchase

Safety Program

  1. Quarterly Safety Meetings for Road Dept. Employees
  2. Investigation of Accidents Both Employee and Public
  3. Equipment Operator Training
  4. Design and Implement Road Department Employee Safety Manual

Personnel

  1. Job Descriptions
  2. Annual Performance Evaluations
  3. Employee Profiles
  4. 13 Full Time Employees, 2 Part Time Employees, Secretary, Highway Superintendent
  5. Drug & Alcohol Testing
  6. Training

Heavy Equipment Program motor grader

  1. Inventory
  2. Equipment Inventory
  3. Preventive Maintenance
  4. Cost Comparison/Analysis
  5. Write Bid Specifications, Make Recommendations on Purchase
  6. Equipment Replacement Program
    1. Maintainers & Excavator, 10 years  
    2. Trucks, 15 years
    3. Loader & Backhoe, 15 years

Benefits of Good Equipment Replacement Program

  1. Lower repair costs and less downtime
  2. Better trade-in values
  3. Better operator moral
  4. Better fuel economy
  5. 3-8% governmental discount on purchase
  6. Improved technology

We have a very good equipment replacement program without increasing the road budget to do so. (July, 1994 vs. July, 2004). We have also reduced the total number of heavy equipment (maintainer & loader) from 14 of July, 1994 to 12 as of March, 1998, thereby removing repairs and depreciation on unneeded equipment.

Permit

  1. Driveways
  2. Road Crossing
  3. House and Building Moving
  4. Ditch Cleaning
  5. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
  6. Environmental

Snow Removal Program snow

  1. Inventory
  2. Snow Removal Emergency Policy
  3. Emergency Snow Routes
  4. Contractor Snow Routes
  5. Employee Training
  6. Public Notices (newspaper, radio, schools, etc.)