Published: March 16, 2009 09:34 am      

Board members tour roads

By VANESSA WELCH

vanessa.welch@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — The county has received federal economic stimulus money to pay 100 percent for a three-inch overlay on asphalt from I-57 to Rend Lake College, with repairs beginning next year, according to county engineer Steve Schnake.

Members of the Jefferson County Board discussed this and other projects Saturday while making their second annual tour of county and township roads and bridges.

“This year we will be working on a road east of Ina,” Schnake said. “It is three and a half miles of asphalt surfacing that starts at Route 37 and goes to the village of Spring Garden.”

The contract has already been awarded to Southern Illinois Asphalt, and Schnake said work may begin as soon as June.

Schnake said a main determinant of repairing roads involves channels created on road surfaces according to where tires consistently run. When water builds up, Schnake said it can cause vehicles to hydroplane.

“The county roads are in pretty good shape,” Schnake said. “We have about 125 miles of roads. Most of this is blacktop and the rest is oil and chip. We keep those in pretty good shape, too.”

The county will also be replacing Malecki Road Bridge located in Farrington Township within the next year, and Wiggins Bridge on Denker Road in Webber Township by 2011.

Schnake said 23 feet of clearance is required by trains traveling underneath to be able to double stack cars, so each bridge will be raised to more comfortably accommodate height. The wooden bridges will also be replaced with concrete and steel.

“If the bridge has a load limit, usually the lower the weight limit the higher the priority,” Schnake said.

Approximately 100 township bridges and 50 county bridges exist in Jefferson County, not including state bridges located near highways.