Road sign replacement happening soon in Washington County

Washington County Supervisors signed a resolution for a sign replacement program for county roads signs. County Engineer Jacob Thorius explained the program acts as a reimbursemnt system for up to $10,000 for signs and their related hardware.

'This is a program we have utilized the last several years,” he said, explaining the county can only apply for the program once a year. He said 244 signs were included in his request and that the average sign costs about $55 a piece, in addition to the cost of installation.

'It should buy most of those,” he explained. 'I can't say it will buy all of them because it depends on the sign.”

The resolution was adopted on a vote of 5-0.

In other news, the five-year plan for secondary roads in Washington County was approved.

'Over the next five years we have a little over $11 million estimated to be available,” Thorius said.

The plan, as explained by County Engineer Jacob Thorius, includes 27 projects that come in at an estimated cost of $20.6 million. Although the plan is overbudget, Thorius said this was done on purpose to ensure there is always a project being worked on if additional funding becomes available.

'As I've talked about in the past, I've always had the philosophy of programming a little heavy so we can start some design work early and if needs change, we can adjust,” he said.

Thorius explained 11 projects are related to structures, bridges and box culverts, 10 on gravel roads and six on the paved road system.