Roadwork continues in Henry County

MT. PLEASANT — Henry County Engineer Jake Hotchkiss informed the Henry County Board of Supervisors that current roadwork continues in Henry County, and that plans for future roadwork are coming together.

According to Hotchkiss, Henry County Secondary Roads Department replaced entrances on Oasis Avenue from 200th Street to 220th Street and did ditching work in preparation for shoulder pulling planned to begin this week. The shoulder pulling work will start on 200th Street going south to 220th Street/Winfield Avenue.

“That is the last part of that project,” Hotchkiss informed the board. “We will probably take two to three weeks to get that done and rocked.”

Once the rocking is complete, Hotchkiss says they intend to inject base-one into the rock as a stabilizing agent.

Other road projects in the county include work on Franklin Avenue/W55. Franklin Avenue is closed from 275th Street north to 260th Street. While Norris Asphalt has poured patch over the culvert replacement on this work site, many other phases of the project will still need completed.

The contractor plans to resume placing fill material this week after the patch has cured in this portion before mobbing onto another area. A second crew will continue working on culvert extensions throughout the project with flaggers.

According to Hotchkiss much of the crossroad culvert work that impacted the contractor’s schedule are now completed aside from one near Salem which crews will address when they return to that area.

“Norris is pushing this up to get moving because they want this paved this fall yet,” Hotchkiss said. “They do plan to finish this project up, or at least the asphalt done. Again, I say whether that, but weather really decides how that works. If it decides to rain or continues to give us wet conditions, that tends to hold us up on that.”

Looking forward, Hotchkiss shared plans to meet with Iowa Bridge and Culver this Wednesday, July 31 to schedule a bridge replacement on Nebraska Avenue south of 220th Street.

“We left that open to be winter working, but with them wanting to begin this August, there is a good chance that could be done this fall yet depending on how the schedule goes and the weather,” Hotchkiss said.

Hotchkiss will meet with the supervisors for another update in two weeks as the Henry County Board of Supervisors will not meet this week due to not having a quorum. In the meantime, the Henry County Secondary Roads Office will adjust their hours of operation beginning Aug. 1. The hours will change from 7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. to 7 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

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