Washington County mulls Vine Avenue asphalt overlay project

A planned maintenance project on Vine Avenue south of Crawfordsville may be scaled back.

The initial plan was to do a 1-inch asphalt overlay on Vine Avenue in Crawfordsville and two miles south, according to Washington County Engineer Jacob Thorius.

The county is considering scaling back the project to doing the overlay in Crawfordsville and just doing “hot patches” on the stretch south of town.

“It’s been on our five-year plan since the state turned Vine Avenue — which is old 218 — over to the county,” Thorius said. “It’s been a low priority because of a lower volume of traffic.”

He said that recent traffic counts show about 170 cars a day travel on that stretch, adding that there are both gravel roads and asphalt roads in the county that have higher traffic counts and need more work.

“Do we really need to do that with other roads in worse condition?” Thorius asked.

Thorius said that the project, as initially planned, would cost about $200,000, while the scaled back plan would cost around $75,000.

He said that, while the overall cost would be less, the unit cost of the smaller project would be higher.

“The contractor would have to spread the cost and profit over a smaller area,” Thorius said.

He compared it to hiring someone to paint one room in a house as opposed to painting the entire house.

“Painting the whole house would cost more overall, but the cost per square foot would be less,” he said.

At Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Marcus Fedler, whose district includes Crawfordsville, said he would prefer not to change the project without first consulting with Crawfordsville city officials.

“From what I understand, the city is expecting the whole road,” Fedler said. “I don’t want to say, ‘OK, we’re changing that now.’ I would prefer to talk to them first.”

Thorius said that he expects that the Board of Supervisors will make the decision at Tuesday’s meeting.