Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Road Maintenance Bridges topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Barry County Road Commission highlights foam-stabilization win, bridge needs and chip-seal strategy
Summary
The Barry County Road Commission reported a year of steady maintenance, a low percent of poor federal-aid roads, an innovative foam-stabilization repair that saved the county roughly $1.2 million, and planned bridge projects that will rely on state critical-bridge funds.
Jake Welch, managing director of the Barry County Road Commission, presented the commission—s 2024 annual report to the Barry County Board of Commissioners on July 22, summarizing maintenance accomplishments, an innovative stabilization project, and capital needs for bridges and culverts.
Welch described a foam-stabilization repair on Green Lake Road that replaced a previously projected $1.3 million structural fix with an in-place test using compressible foam piers. "We drilled holes down into the bottom of the muck, filled that with compressible foam, and basically built that road up on foam piers," Welch said, adding the technique cost about $100,000 and has held up for more than a year.
Welch outlined other 2024 highlights: the road commission placed about 65,000 cubic yards of township gravel during its gravel year; performed roughly 69 miles of crack sealing and about 174 miles of chip seal; and touched roughly 310 miles of the county—s paved roads (the commission said the county maintains about 600 paved miles). He reported the road commission spent about $1.4 million on snow removal in the reporting period.
The road commission said it maintains one of the state—s best records for federal-aid eligible roads: 1.8% of those roads are rated "poor," the lowest percentage in the state for the third consecutive year. Welch said bridge work is the commission—s top priority should additional state funding become available.
Two bridge projects were identified for 2026: Barger Road over Mud Creek and Quaker Brook Lane over Quaker Brook Creek. Welch said the Quaker Brook Lane replacement will cost about $900,000, of which the road commission—s local share is about 20% (roughly $180,000). Commissioners asked about the cost per resident for small crossings; Welch said the commission seeks state and other external funding where possible and noted the commission cannot abandon certain roads without creating access or landlocked parcels.
Welch also said the commission is exploring regional approaches to large bridge funding. "We're actually working right now with Allegan, Kalamazoo, and Saint Joe Counties to do a regional mini bridge bundle," he said, describing efforts to work with the Michigan Infrastructure Office to identify new funding mechanisms after earlier competitive applications were denied.
Commissioners thanked Welch and his staff for maintenance and communications work; several commissioners praised the road commission—s responsiveness to snow events and to public inquiries.
