Boone County highway director outlines 2024 work, federal and state-funded bridge and resurfacing plans

Nick Barr, Highway Department presenter, gave the Boone County Commissioners an annual report on past work and planned projects for 2025, detailing bridge repairs, resurfacing work and safety measures.

Barr said the county completed several bridge and resurfacing projects in 2024 and has federal and state funding lined up for multiple 2025 efforts. He asked the board to approve an hourly construction inspection task order with BFS Construction Inspection for the county's resurfacing program, not to exceed $106,000. The commissioners approved execution of that inspection agreement.

The nut of Barr's presentation was funding and scope: the county's 2024 resurfacing program totals just under $3 million; community crossings awards covered about $1.1 million of that work. Barr described three miles of full-depth reclamation and 3.6 miles of resurfacing in the program. He said the county uses annual pavement ratings and asset inventories to prioritize work on the roughly 414 miles of paved roads the county maintains.

Barr outlined bridge work funded in 2024 and continuing into 2025. He told commissioners the county won federal 80/20 funding for replacement of a bridge on County Road 300 South (between 875 East and 975 East) and for Bridge 162 on 500 South; other bridges received state community-crossings 50/50 funding. He said bridge preservation work such as deck sealing and beam repairs is now an increasing budget item because rehabilitation and replacements are far more costly than preventative maintenance.

Barr described a sign-replacement contract to begin immediately: a Federal Local Road Safety Program award will fund replacement of about 35,100 county signs (stop, yield, speed limit, warning and other signs). He said the federal award covers 100% of construction costs for that sign replacement, with the county covering 10% of design and inspection. The project is intended to reduce run-off-road crashes and improve visibility.

Barr highlighted road-safety countermeasures that have worked: curve corrections and high-friction surface treatments on two segments of 96th Street reduced crashes dramatically (he cited 75 crashes in a five-year span at two curves before the projects, and three crashes total in the subsequent multi-year span). He also discussed outreach tied to off-road-vehicle use on public roads and invited more agency collaboration for the county's local road safety plan update.

On operations data, Barr reported the highway department tracked roughly 346 work orders in 2024 (noting some data loss), maintained a paved-road condition rating near 6.8, and completed a monument honoring an historic stone-arch bridge listed on the National Register. He said the department intends to expand bridge preservation in 2025 using ARP and bond funds for design and small-structure projects.

Commission discussion asked for clarifications about proposed water-line utility crossings and rights-of-way, and Barr said routes were proposed by utility owners and that the county is trying to keep large utilities (for example a planned 36-inch line) outside documented county right-of-way to avoid future relocation costs being borne by taxpayers. Commissioners also asked about converting gravel roads to paved; Barr said about four miles of conversions are planned in 2025 but some high-priority candidates require right-of-way dedication that has not yet been secured.

The board voted to approve the BFS Construction Inspection task order and moved other highway items (coordination for LEAP/Project Foundry meetings, sign replacement start, bridge closures and small-structure work) into the implementation pipeline. Barr said he will provide maps and schedules as projects neared construction.

Ending: Barr closed by reiterating the department's safety goal: to eliminate fatal and serious injuries on Boone County roadways and to preserve assets through preventative maintenance rather than waiting for costly replacements.