Road News April 2021
Comment on the Draft 2020-21 Road Maintenance Program
Deadline Friday, April 9, 5 pm
The annual road maintenance program lists all the Maintenance Division activities they are proposing for the coming year that preserve the public’s investment in the county’s transportation infrastructure. The goal is to provide the highest possible level of service with the available funding.
They are looking for public input to make sure they have correctly identified the locations where maintenance is needed. “Your feedback helps us create the final project list. We will submit the final Road Maintenance Program to the Washington County Board of Commissioners for action in June.”
The draft report is not particularly user-friendly, so we talked to Melissa De Lyser, Brian Irish, and Cindy Remy to clarify the kind of responses they’re looking for and how to read the report. Irish provided a mini-glossary of the terms in the Road Fund Maintenance Overlay section, thanks to De Lyser for transcribing it. Irish agreed to include this type of information in future publications.
They emphasize that this comment form is not to request immediate road maintenance needs, or to suggest improvements. For that, please visit the Request Road Service form here.
Overlay projects in our area include (3) Joss Ave (Springville to Brugger); (4) 143rd Ave (Cornell to Thompson; (5) Bethany Blvd (West Union to Kaiser); and (6) Science Park Dr (Murray to Cornell). One suggestion they received was to change the striping on Science Park to include bike lanes, and they’re considering that, although it’s also a question for the engineering staff.
Vegetation Control: Use the PDF search function to look up your road to see if mowing or chemical control is proposed.
The Washington County Board of Commissioners guides development of the annual road maintenance program through the Road Maintenance Priority Matrix adopted in the Transportation Plan. Roads in the major roadway system get the most use and are the highest priority for maintenance funding. Local roads and neighborhood streets are a lower priority for maintenance funds.
For current information on road work in the county, click here.
Saltzman update
The Washington County Board of Commissioners is tentatively scheduled to hear about proposals for the north end of Saltzman at their May 11 Work Session. It’s unclear at this point if staff is going to present the alternatives considered by the Project Advisory Committee. We’ll include more information in the May issue.
Road Fund Maintenance Overlay glossary of terms
Thin-lift overlay: 1-inch-thick maximum hot asphalt paving. It is a preventative, cost-effective maintenance measure for roads that are largely in good shape.
Machine patch: Going to become an antiquated term. It is asphalt paving performed by Washington County crews, about 1½ inches thick. It’s for roads that are deteriorating and in more serious condition than those that need thin-lift overlay.
Shoulder maintenance: Maintenance for roads that have no curb and gutter – simply rock shoulders. This includes smoothing and filling the shoulders and adding additional rock, as necessary.
Surface sweeping: Sweeping roads systematically in the rural unincorporated area, removing leaves and debris. In urban area, this is done by Clean Water Services.
Gravel road maintenance: Grading gravel roads and adding gravel as necessary. Can correct “wash boarding” and other issues.
Crack seal: Sealing cracks with hot asphalt material to help prevent water from getting in and impacting subgrade.
