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Marquette County highway director outlines 2025 projects, recycling and fleet strategy
Summary
Highway staff reported on 2025 pavement projects and operations, including a 5.7-mile pavement replacement ($1.31M), causeway reconstruction funded in part by a $1M supplemental grant, use of on-site crushed material (about 70,000 tons) and incorporation of 20% recycled material into asphalt mixes.
Marquette County's highway division presented a detailed report on 2025 projects, materials production and plans for 2026, highlighting causeway reconstruction, on-site asphalt production and expanded recycling.
The division reported completion of a county pavement replacement project (5.7 miles at $1,310,000), partially funded with state funds, and town projects totaling more than $1.53 million through November 2025 (SEG 157–174). A causeway reconstruction project begun under a 2020 state program took over five years from application to construction; the county estimated the overall project at about $2.5 million and said it received a $1.0 million supplemental grant (SEG 227–233).
Highway staff described operations at Richard's Pit, including initial setup of an asphalt plant control house in 2024, a crushing and screening operation that produced approximately 70,000 tons of aggregate material, and a 2025 wash-plant pad that enables processing and reuse of remnant materials for asphalt production (SEG 279–287; SEG 283).
"We also are incorporating 20% of recycled material into our asphalt mix," the presenter said, describing a practice of returning milling material to the pit, crushing it and reusing it to reduce the amount of virgin oil and aggregate needed (SEG 299–305).
The division underscored pavement-treatment strategy: mill-and-overlay when surface condition allows, and full-depth reconstruction when subsurface layers are compromised. County staff said Marquette has roughly 240 miles of county highways and needs about 24 miles of surface treatment annually to maintain a 10-year surface cycle (SEG 376–382).
Fleet consolidation and procurement were also discussed. The division reported reducing single-axle trucks from 28 in 2018 to 11 by 2025, with a long-term plan to keep nine single-axle trucks and prioritize tri- and quad-axles for greater summer payloads. Staff said new equipment was ordered to meet emissions regulations coming in 2027 (SEG 398–415).
On materials supply, the presenter told the board the county has sufficient crushed aggregate to meet 2026 asphalt production needs and estimated up to 10–14 years of usable material at Richardsville depending on crush cycles (SEG 453–466).
No formal action was taken on the highway report; the board filed the report and moved on to the next agenda item.
