Lots of work to be done on Henry County Roads

The Henry County Secondary Roads has a full slate of road building and repairs ready to go this summer.

There are three big construction projects slated for the road crews this summer.

There is a paving project that is north of Wayland that will be taking place. Another paving project from Highway 78 to Trenton that is on Franklin Avenue. And lastly, there is a big project slated for Winfield Avenue where a small bridge will be replaced.

The Winfield Avenue project is replacing a small bridge with a twin box culvert.

“The road will have to be closed to complete this project,” said Jake Hotchkiss, Henry County engineer. “Here is a case where we have a smaller bridge in place and we are replacing it with a box culvert that will allows us not to have any width restrictions. That way there will be a lot more room for equipment as it goes down the road, there won’t be a rail constriction. The road will have bigger shoulders at this site once it is completed.”

The price for the three projects has yet to be finalized, as there is overlap in the fiscal year projects. The price of oil for the asphalt, among other expenses, will decree what can be accomplished each cycle.

“The big project that we have slated for next year will be the ER (County Road X23) project that is situated near Lowell,” said Hotchkiss. “It is a temporary gravel road right now, and that will have to be paved. We are waiting for an archaeology review to be completed once the season permits. Once that is completed, we can move on with the development of the plan for that section of road.”

For fiscal year 2023, there is a box culvert that is slated for Ash Avenue near Hillsboro in the southern part of the county. That project may be receiving bids earlier this spring.

One of the new projects that is coming in 2023 is a bridge project that is off Old 218. It is a gravel road on Iowa Avenue and that will be a bridge replacement. The county will fund this project, and then it will be reimbursed later upon completion, according to Hotchkiss.

“There is a large project which may be built next summer,” said Hotchkiss. “A lot will depend on plan development, and that project is going from 235th Street down to Salem.”

This is a regional project with Louisa, Des Moines, Lee and Henry counties. Every year one of the four counties will put in for a project. The last project that was completed was J20 that was completed two summers ago.

“We will be extending shoulders on that road,” said Hotchkiss. “It is a narrow shoulder road. We are going to try to get five to six foot shoulders built on that road. We received a safety grant to put those shoulders in place.”

It will be a matter of timing with other projects as to whether or not it will be done in 2023.

The anticipated local maintenance projects slated to be completed this year are a shoulder pulls that are being completed on 275th Street, 170th Street and Oasis Avenue.

In the fall there will be an additional shoulder pull done on Lexington Avenue.

“These will be completed at time and weather permits,” said Hotchkiss. “Our maintenance crews will be working on these projects throughout the summer. The most significant one of the four will be the Oasis Avenue job. It is a five-mile stabilization project.”

There also will be three twin tank car projects that will be completed by maintenance crews. These will be completed on 270th Street, 126th Street and Fremont Avenue.

Contact Michelle Hillestad at michelle.hillestad@southeastiowaunion.com