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Public Works plans $206,000 in grader-mounted attachments to boost road‑maintenance efficiency
Summary
Joel (Public Works staff) described new grader-mounted attachments — shoulder/patch hopper, retriever, ditcher, mulcher/brusher — that the county plans to acquire within the 2025 equipment replacement budget (approx. $206,000) to multiply grader utility and reduce labor hours.
Joel (staff member, Public Works) briefed commissioners on March 11 about a set of grader-mounted attachments the department plans to acquire to increase productivity and reduce the need for dedicated standalone machines.
Joel said many specialty machines previously purchased as independent pieces of equipment can now be mounted as attachments to the county’s larger graders; using attachments allows the county to repurpose expensive graders during the summer months when they are underused. The attachments described include a shoulder/patch hopper that places rock or asphalt exactly where needed; a retriever that collects road rock from ditches and returns it to the traveled way; a ditching attachment to create or clean ditches at several miles per hour; and a masticator head to mulch brush and trim sight lines.
Joel said the retriever will be purchased in two units; other attachments will be purchased in single units and all purchases fit within the department’s 2025 equipment replacement plan. He said the attachments are bolt-on, can be mounted in a few hours and run on the graders’ existing hydraulic capacity; the department expects to use the tools in dry season to complete additional maintenance tasks and free crews for culvert and stormwater work.
Total planned investment for the attachments was reported in the briefing as $206,000; Joel said the department sourced used pieces in some cases and intends to keep the purchase under budget compared with acquiring another full grader.
Why it matters: the attachments aim to increase efficiency, reduce labor needs, and allow the county to repurpose existing grader assets for road maintenance and stormwater work without adding additional full vehicles.
What’s next: Public Works plans to pilot the attachments across districts during summer, monitor successes and challenges, and return with operational results to inform future purchases.
