Caution urged on Broadway as road repairs begin

“Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better.” Anyone with experience in home remodeling can probably relate to that quote. We all enjoy improvements, but the process of making them creates temporary inconvenience. The same is true in regard to road repair. It is not uncommon for people to complain about a road needing repair, but once the process begins, it creates a whole new set of issues.

Last week the District 1 road crew began working on Broadway Rd. in preparation for an asphalt overlay of three miles from Waterloo to Simpson Road. Part of the process prior to repaving has been to grind up areas with base failure in order to compact and stabilize them so the new overlay will not fail. We have tried to mark all areas with signage where there are uneven surfaces, but some signs have been stolen or removed. We replace them but realize this does not assure they will remain in place during off hours. The best advice I can give is for motorists to be aware that there may be rough areas within the three mile stretch where we are working and that it is important to
drive carefully.

The end goal is provide a smooth, solid surface which connects to the 2 1/2 mile paving project completed on Broadway in 2010. That project began at Simpson and continued north to near the site where a new bridge on Broadway is currently under construction.

Another project moving toward the construction stage is a bridge replacement on Charter Oak Road one-half mile west of Santa Fe. I mentioned in last week’s update that the project would go to bid
through ODOT on October 18. We received word this week from an ODOT official that the low bidder was Reece Construction at $634,981.60. We were pleased at this news since the original cost estimate was $865,000. While this project may also create some temporary inconvenience during the construction phase, the result will be improved approaches and a new 103′ two-lane bridge that will replace the current one-lane 50′ wooden deck structure. Please bear with us as we work through the process of trying to bring Logan County roads up to standard.