Hotchkiss: 220th Street project nearing completion

BY BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

Secondary-roads crews will be repairing buckles in pavement and the 220th Street reconstruction project is near completion.

Those items were included in Henry County Engineer Jake Hotchkiss? weekly report to county supervisors Tuesday during the board?s regular meeting.

Hotchkiss said there are two or three pavement blow-ups on Oasis Avenue between Highway 78 and 170th Street and one repair needed on Iowa Avenue.

He said the pavement was being repaired on Iowa Avenue Tuesday and the road should be open to the public by nightfall. ?It only takes about six hours for concrete to settle,? he explained.

Patching on Oasis Avenue, Hotchkiss said, will be done this week but he did not give any more details.

Only about three-fourths of a mile remains to be paved on the 220th Street project, the engineer told the board. The six-mile project extends from the U.S. Highway 218 overpass to Racine Avenue.

Although nearly all the pavement is in place, Hotchkiss said it would be a while until the road will be open to the public.

?We have about two weeks of handwork after the pavement is poured,? Hotchkiss stated. ?Shoulder construction is continuing on the east end, and hopefully, next week we will be placing granular shoulders and then stripe it.?

Asked by the supervisors when the road might be open to the public, Hotchkiss hesitated and then declined to offer a date. ?We?re moving in the right direction but I won?t say when I think it will be open.?

?I was hoping to be farther along on 220th Street, but there was just enough rain last week to hold us up,? he remarked.

In other county construction projects, Hotchkiss said the Ash Avenue bridge replacement project is progressing. The contractor poured both abutments and is working on the berms. The beams are scheduled to be delivered in two weeks.

Hotchkiss said he also has sent out quotes to replace the territory shed on Oasis Avenue and 220th Street and will have a recommendation to the board later this month.

Work by the secondary-roads crew last week included installing crossroad pipe west of Trenton; working on entrances; mowing; hauling resurfacing rock to Jefferson Township and Hickory Avenue; and a ditching project on Iowa Avenue.

County resident Randy Lanferman discussed a zoning problem (easement requirement) with the board and Joe Buffington, county director of planning and zoning.

Lanferman said he is giving some land to his grandson to build a new house and an existing house on the same property will be razed. ?The reason I?m doing it (giving the land) is because he needs collateral to borrow money.?

Following a few minutes of discussion, both sides were optimistic that the problem can be resolved. ?We will make it work,? Lanferman said.

Supervisors meet again in regular session on Thursday at 9 a.m., in the Henry County Courthouse.