Work on Salem Road J20 upcoming

MT. PLEASANT - Patching work on Salem Road J20 will be underway soon as the Henry County Supervisors awarded a contract during their Tuesday meeting.

Iowa Civic Contracting Corp will be completing the work at a cost of $215,787.78. The project will be paid for out of the farm and market fund, said Henry County Engineer Jake Hotchkiss.

The rode was laid in the ‘80s and is seeing issues in the joints and panels. Hotchkiss said the work should be completed this fall, depending on weather and will begin next month.

'It will probably be a pretty good sized crew because it is a pretty good sized project,” he said. 'There are about three sections on that road that are longer sections that are deteriorating and other sections that are perfectly fine, so they're going in there and going to try and buy us some more time on this pavement to get the worst of the worse patches out of the way.”

The concrete in the road will be replaced and a patch will be placed over the top. Floggers will be directing traffic during that time as the patch sets.

In other news, construction will continue on the W55 Franklin Avenue Bridge as the contractor has poured the North Pier stem and will begin working on the South Pier stem and North Pier cap. The J20 bridge near Lowell is seeing false work and the slab for the bridge is expected to be poured in the next couple of weeks.

The 260th twin box culvert west of Benton avenue will be seeded, rock placed and is expected to be open by the end of the week. The 260th grading project near Gibson Park is drying out after the sudden rainfall and rock will be placed once conditions are right.