County Engineer details road, bridge, and culvert projects

MT. PLEASANT — Henry County Engineer Jake Hotchkiss reported on ongoing roadwork, safety improvements, and upcoming bridge and culvert replacements during the Department Head meeting with the Board of Supervisors.

Supervisors approved right of way construction contracts and plans for two major projects. The first will replace a culvert on 107th Street, H-28 over Potomac Creek, with work planned for next spring or summer following a November letting.

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The second will replace a bridge on Lexington Avenue over a small creek with a twin box culvert, funded through federal bridge dollars.

“Whenever we can, we typically would lean to putting a box culvert in if the stream fits and everything else matches up,” Hotchkiss said.

Current work includes a culvert replacement on 310th Street west of Salem, preparation of gravel roads for the second round of dust control, and the start of a third mowing cycle on gravel roads.

“We have completed our second round of mowing … and we will be starting a third round … there’s a lot more vegetation,” Hotchkiss said.

In Salem, school stop signs have been installed, and feedback signs are expected by week’s end.

“Those will be set at 25 miles per hour,” Hotchkiss told supervisors.

Hotchkiss also reported on work north of 235th Street on Goodyear Road, where crews “milled out six inches of the existing shoulder” and are adding rock before starting pavement patching “probably for at least a couple weeks out there.”

In other business, supervisors approved multiple utility permits for underground fiber and service connections in several areas.

Hotchkiss addressed a drainage concern in Salem following a heavy rain, saying the issue involved a private waterway modified with a tile that “wasn’t to the capacity to handle a two-inch rain.” He added, “From the perspective of everything right now … it is draining fine.”

Comments: AnnaMarie.Kruse@southeastiowaunion.com