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Supervisors approve secondary roads budget and five-year plan; engineer outlines gravel-road binding trial
Summary
Winneshiek County supervisors approved the secondary roads budget and five-year plan and heard the county engineer describe a trial of a chemical base-stabilization product on gravel roads, a 6,500-ton rock application schedule and bridge inspection timing aimed at summer 2025.
The Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the county secondary roads budget and the accompanying five-year plan during the meeting.
County Engineer Mike Pewdie presented the plan and outlined maintenance and capital activities. He said the county will apply about 6,500 tons of rock to gravel roads this year and will prioritize high-volume roads, naming Conover Road, Town Line Road, River Road, Meadowlark Road and sections of W 14. "6,500 tons per late district will be applied this year, plus some high volume roads are being rocked," Pewdie reported.
Pewdie also described a trial of a base-stabilization product intended to reduce ongoing rock and grading costs and provide dust control. He said the product is a chemical "enzyme" that binds fines in the top of the road surface and, when applied under correct dry conditions, can harden to a surface that resists washboarding for years. "The base stabilization, it's something that holds the gravel roads. It works with the fines. It's a chemical. It's an enzyme that holds together all the fines to make things hard ... it finishes after it's been applied into something that's a little stiff, silly putty, and then it it gets hard," Pewdie said.
Pewdie said the county will trial the product on limited sections and will schedule application in the driest part of summer to improve the chance of success; he noted mixed reports from other counties and described the effort as a trial only. He said the county plans to hire a reclamation machine and has a loose agreement with contractor JD Hall for equipment.
Pewdie reported work coordinating bridge inspections and studies, including a railroad bridge study with Iowa State and a bridge-inspection schedule targeting summer 2025. He distributed the secondary roads budget and the certified five-year plan; county staff and the board discussed the budget—s starting balance and a line-item adjustment that had been made since February.
A supervisor moved and another seconded approval of the secondary roads budget and five-year plan. The board voted unanimously to approve. During the discussion the county indicated the local funds portion of the budget is about $9,000,000 for the year, with roughly $2,000,000 of reimbursable funding expected from other sources, and that the DOT needs the five-year plan for its approval process.
The board also discussed striping and fog-line work connected to recent road projects and said the county will pay separately for fog lines that were not included in an original contract.
The motion to approve the secondary roads budget and the five-year plan passed unanimously.
