District 2 Update on Road Projects‏

Several weeks have passed since the last communication from District 2 so I want to update you on what we’ve been doing.

Logan County Commissioner Mike Pearson

Though rain delayed several of our projects in the month of May, in June Atlas Paving was finally able to resurface one mile of Midwest north of SH 33 which was funded with a Rural Economic Action Program (REAP). Atlas also paved the roadway across the new bridge on University Street east of Midwest. These two projects had been scheduled for some time so it was gratifying to see them completed so citizens could take advantage of the improvements. Photos of these projects are posted at http://commissiondistrict2.com/OTHAqf.pdf

Last year a 107’ truss bridge on Peebly south of Prairie Grove was damaged by overly wide farm machinery. After an engineer’s inspection of the bridge, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation required us to close it to all traffic. Because it is so costly to replace a bridge of this size, we have decided the easiest way to provide access to landlocked property south of the bridge is to open up a never before opened mile section of Camp between Luther and Peebly. Since it is an emergency situation, the work of clearing a path through the trees began this week. We hope to complete the job before the end of August.

A previous update mentioned plans to repave Pine from Prairie Grove to Triplett. We have now completed clearing the right-of-way of trees and, though delayed by the emergency Camp Rd. project, we should be able to return to the Pine project soon, as well as the two miles of Midwest from Charter Oak to Forrest Hills.

On Wednesday, July 10, a “plan-in-hand” meeting was held with ODOT to discuss repaving Pine from Waterloo to Simpson. Included in the consultation were several representatives from ODOT, District 2 and the engineering firm. In the past we were able to secure $150,000 from the County Improvements for Roads and Bridges (CIRB) fund as matching money in 2016 for this project. Last year we made application for Surface Transportation Program funds for construction money for this section of Pine, but the application faced stiff competition with other entities and did not score high enough. However, the fact that we have held a “plan-in-hand” meeting will help us score more points when we make application again at the end of this year.

So, while we are busy meeting the needs at hand, such as opening Camp, grading roads, patching potholes, mowing right-of-way, installing culverts and hauling shale and rock to problem areas, we are also pursuing plans for future infrastructure improvements such as the one on Pine.