County engineer outlines 2025 road program, bridge projects and new drone equipment; Ohio Street upgrade planned

County Engineer Justin Madder briefed the Saline County Commission on Oct.–Dec. 2024 accomplishments and the 2025 work plan on Jan. 21, reporting completed asphalt work, awarded construction contracts for box culverts and a bridge, progress on pipelining, and the county’s receipt of an unmanned aerial system equipped with photogrammetry and LiDAR sensors.

Why it matters: The engineering program sets the county’s road, bridge and maintenance priorities and budget allocations for the year; completed and planned projects affect travel safety, farm and freight access, and long-term maintenance costs.

Key accomplishments and contracts

- Completed hot-mix asphalt overlay and patching by APAC Kansas for $1,227,244.31. - Bituminous crack-seal contract completed by Payment Pros for $22,416.80. - County received a UAS (drone) with photogrammetry and LiDAR sensors via a regional SMART grant to improve mapping and surveying capability.

Contract awards and project specifics

- Shippo Road reinforced-concrete box and Simpson Road improvements: Reece Construction awarded $309,501.60; project is partially reimbursed ($200,000) from ARPA and now expected to start in late spring or summer (contractor updated schedule).

- Waterwell Road bridge replacement (80-foot, three-span concrete bridge): King Construction awarded $825,548.62; crews started in fall and were driving piling on the east pier at the time of the update.

- Pipelining: Contract awarded to a specialty services firm for $554,463.95 covering 21 locations; three sites completed and remaining liner installations scheduled for March.

Maintenance and program plans

- Hot-mix overlay planned on Waterwell Road (to Smoky Hill River bridge) plus continued work on Burma Road; Madder estimated construction productivity roughly a mile per February and noted costs per mile have risen compared with recent years.

- Chip seal: Approximately 31 miles planned with an estimated per‑mile cost around $27,500 (estimate subject to final bidding).

- Crack seal and aggregate shouldering scheduled after freeze-thaw cycles allow proper evaluation.

Ohio Street project

Madder described a planned upgrade of Ohio Street (Miner Road to Waterwell Road) from gravel to a base-stabilized surface: the project would elevate the road (~18 inches), add aggregate and mix in a chemical base stabilizer to improve strength, reduce dust and regrade ditches and pipe crossings. He said final design is underway with anticipated construction in 2025; a specific per-mile stabilizer cost was not provided.

Inspections, bidding and budget notes

- Bridge inspection cycle: The county will inspect roughly 220 bridges in the federal inspection cycle; two new technicians will assist and field work will reduce other office production for a period.

- Material bids: Pipe and inlet-section bids were scheduled to open Feb. 10; traffic paint and beads bids were to open Feb. 18 (moved due to a holiday).

- Budgets: Madder reported an asphalt-maintenance budget of about $3,009,000 (including $2.8M line item plus $209,000 in federal fund-exchange monies). The special road-construction “1-mill” account had an unencumbered balance around $2.126M (half-mill funding this year). The special bridge-construction (2-mill) fund had about $679,800; the special highway-improvement fund had roughly $2.66M.

Ending

Commissioners asked technical questions about the Ohio Street drainage, stabilizer suitability for dust control and potential downstream flood impacts; Madder said steel culverts and ditch regrading are part of the design and that landowner cooperation on tree removal will aid drainage. He emphasized project complexity given the flat grades in the corridor.