By Kate Klimesh,
(Originally published in the June 29 Public Opinion, available in print and online. Certain content is presented first to subscribers (print and digital), then released for consumption later)
The Monday, June 26, Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors meeting saw many road projects discussed with Interim County Engineer Isaac Wiltgen. Among the projects were two requests for road closures: one in Fort Atkinson for Rendezvous Days, and another from Festina for the duration of their July Fourth Parade. Both road closures were approved by the Supervisors, with Supervisor Shirley Vermace noting requests for road closure should be sent in early enough to be on the agenda for action, instead of being submitted without being on the agenda. The Festina request was not on the agenda, but the date of the event would not have allowed time to put it on future agendas.
The board unanimously approved a resolution granting the Interim County Engineer the authority to certify projects and sign documents on the county’s behalf, which will be necessary for projects moving forward during the formal County Engineer hiring process.
Current road projects are winding down. Work was completed on Bridge 237 on 210th Street early this week, and K Construction will also finalize work on Bridge 317 on Wren Valley Road. Wiltgen noted they would erect a walking bridge for landowners until the road vacation paperwork was signed. Once the road was approved by landowners for vacation, the bridge would be reopened.
The Calmar Golf Course Road, 175th Street, was slated to be painted early this week and is otherwise complete. Supervisors relayed their admiration of the job done widening the shoulders on that road.
Brennan Construction will begin work on Bridge 26 on 295th Avenue outside Jackson Junction to replace that bridge with an approved box culvert. The work is expected to take a couple of months.
Other road work completed included outsourced work to Midwest Epoxy who will inject epoxy to fill concrete voids on eight different bridges in the county. The bridges, all on hard surface roads, were found to have concrete voids due to the salt applied in winter. Wiltgen noted, “The epoxy will outlast the life of the bridge, and is probably harder than the concrete itself.”
Gravel roads were also seeing maintenance, especially following the much needed rain last weekend. New rock was being applied and crews have been working on correcting gravel widths in various areas, using dirt and fill from other areas that were too wide in other projects.
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