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Steele County approves plan to bid three seal coats, advance two bridge sites
Summary
Commissioners voted to move ahead with three countywide seal coat projects and engineering for two bridge replacements or culvert upgrades, citing prairie dog and one-time state funds to pay much of the cost and a June bid timeline for seal coats.
Steele County commissioners voted March 4 to advance three seal-coat road projects and engineering for two bridge replacement sites, with staff directed to put the seal coats out to bid this spring.
The move follows a multi-hour presentation about federal-aid timelines, the county’s prairie-dog funding and other one‑time resources. A staff presenter summarized the near-term schedule for federal aid and highway safety projects, saying the soonest the county could apply for federal-aid bridge funding would be 2027 and that a planned center- and edge-line painting project is scheduled for 2028.
Why it matters: commissioners said they want to preserve paved roads before a large painting project and federal schedules make later work redundant. During the presentation staff estimated about 30–31 miles of seal coat work at roughly $40,000 per mile, putting the anticipated range near $1.2 million. Commissioners were told the county’s available funding includes prairie-dog funds and a one-time state allocation commonly referenced in the meeting as “House Bill 1505” money; staff said the prairie-dog funds are around $1.6 million and that using the one‑time money first would preserve the county’s ongoing accounts.
County staff described funding trade-offs and timing. “At the time that the application was put in for the highway safety improvement funds the estimated cost of that project was $1 million,” the presenter said, “so your future cost to that, provided that paint doesn’t triple in price, is supposed to be $100,000.” The presenter also warned that some bridge projects originally included in federal packages had been deferred or had funding caps reallocated, meaning local share could be required for amounts over the original cap.
Commission action and next steps: Commissioner Richard moved to proceed with bidding three seal-coat projects and to move forward with preliminary engineering for two bridge/culvert sites on County Roads 6 and 20; the motion passed. Staff said they will return to a future meeting with hydraulic studies, size recommendations and cost estimates for the two bridge locations and will prepare bid documents for the seal coats, with March–April identified as standard months to solicit bids for chip/seal work.
Additional technical notes: staff recommended bidding a fog-seal as an add-alternate so commissioners could review the incremental cost. Staff also noted the county’s federal-aid road account was nearly $400,000 negative for 2025 and receives about $190,000 annually, which limits the county’s ability to finance federal-aid projects without other sources.
The board asked staff to report back with formal bid timelines, the hydraulic studies for the bridges and firm cost estimates before any construction contract awards.
