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Residents ask Mercer County to study paving or low-cost stabilization for 50 Ninth Avenue; commissioners direct staff to investigate
Summary
Residents asked the board to consider paving or an alternative stabilization method for 50 Ninth Avenue and a short segment of County Road 20. County staff agreed to examine options, including a lower-cost stabilization pilot, and to return with cost estimates and recommendations.
Residents from the 50 Ninth Avenue area asked Mercer County commissioners to study options for improving a 1.3-mile local corridor that residents say is heavily traveled and suffers from washboarding, dust and drainage problems.
Resident Randy described the road as “beat up pretty good pretty fast,” said several residents have paid privately to place crushed asphalt and said increased traffic—school buses, parcel deliveries and trucking tied to local businesses—has worsened conditions. Randy asked whether the county could pave the 0.9-mile dead-end portion of 50 Ninth Avenue and the 0.4-mile segment that connects to County Road 20, and whether costs would be borne as a special assessment or by the county.
County engineers and road staff explained the legal and practical steps required for a full paving project. Tom, the county engineer who attended, said bringing a local road entirely up to county roadway standards could require substantial dirt work and easements in places; restoring the road to full county spec could therefore be costly. He also described a newer “full-depth reclamation” stabilization approach that cores the existing material, treats it in place and then places a surface layer (double chip seal or thin asphalt) that can lower costs compared with conventional reconstruction.
Tom and road staff gave preliminary cost guidance during the meeting: full reconstruction with dirt work could approach about $1 million per mile in some situations; the alternative stabilization pilot approach might be nearer $500,000 per mile. The county’s engineering office estimated a targeted engineering review to develop options and an order-of-magnitude cost estimate would run roughly $10,000–$20,000.
Commissioners did not commit to a construction plan or funding allocation at the meeting. Instead they directed the county road department and engineering staff to examine the corridor, identify needed easements or rights-of-way, prepare options and cost estimates (including a pilot stabilization option), and return to the commission with a recommended next step. Commissioners also encouraged the resident organizer to poll neighbors on willingness to participate in a special assessment if necessary.
The item will return to the commission after staff completes the engineering review and cost estimate.
