Highway staff gave a detailed operations update July 9 describing progress on multiple county paving projects, extensive chip-sealing work, storm-cleanup operations after recent severe weather and deliveries of replacement trucks and equipment.

Staff said County Road S (north of town), County Road G (D to 25), County Road Y and County Road J had substantially completed paving and should be open to traffic this week with "no center line striping" signs until final marking. Chip sealing continued across the county and crews expected to finish the current phase barring breakdowns or weather. "We are working our way south. That should be completed at the end of the day tomorrow," a highway supervisor said about the seal-coating work.

Crews responded to storm damage over the previous weekend, removing 30 to 40 downed trees along County Road 25 South and repairing washouts. Staff said most hazards were cleared from the travel lanes but some work remains in ditches and on private frontage. A rock-wall location on County Road C and Y required cleanout; staff said concrete barriers previously installed prevented worse outcomes.

Staff reported materials and equipment status: the county received the last of eight tandem trucks ordered in prior years and has three additional trucks on order for next year; a triaxle and a loader awaited delivery. Fleet maintenance work and a new electronic fleet work-order system are in place to track repairs; staff noted the need to replace aging loader tires at an estimated $5,000 each. The county also certified its bucket truck at an American testing center.

On project-specific timelines, staff said a County Road D paving project began paving on the Irvington Hill and expected restoration and guardrail work to finish in the coming week; another project on County Road B (Flaton Creek Bridal) is set to begin next week with an approximately two-month, signed-closure to local traffic only. Staff said a transfer machine trial on County Road Y was used to reduce asphalt segregation and could extend pavement life.

Highway financials showed a projected internal fund surplus of about $1.8 million that staff said is primarily reserved for equipment replacement. Staff cautioned that several construction projects had exceeded preliminary estimates and that the seal-coating operation alone was budgeted at about $600,000 for the week, illustrating the scale of short-term expenses.

No committee action was required on the operations update; staff asked committee members to direct questions to highway staff and noted continuing monitoring of budgets and schedules.