Helmsburg and Clay Lick roads will be paved next year if the county once again receives $1 million in grant funding from the state.
Last year was the third time the the county had received $1 million from the state’s Community Crossings grant program. Brown County Highway Superintendent Mike Magner applied again in July.
Previous money was used to pave all of Becks Grove Road from State Road 135 to the county line; Mt. Liberty Road from Bellsville Pike to Rinnie Seitz Road; and the southern end of Lick Creek Road south of Cottonwood Road to State Road 45. The work was delayed on Mt. Liberty and Lick Creek due to weather, and only some prep work on Becks Grove was done in 2020.
At the Aug. 18 county commissioners meeting, Magner said that contracted crews had been out paving Mt. Liberty all week and had planned to have the surface laid by the end of that day. Lick Creek and Becks Grove roads were finished earlier this summer.
Crews wedged the roads first before putting a final surface on, but Magner said some residents thought the wedged layer was the completed project on Mt. Liberty Road, resulting in upset calls to his office.
“Wedging and paving are not the same,” he said.
“They are doing a wedge and level. It is supposed to look that way. They are coming back again to get that finished then do a whole other pass, which is thicker and is the finished surface.”
Crews were also going to be out painting lines on the newly paved roads and finishing shoulder work.
Magner also reported he had applied for the second round of Community Crossings grant funding for 2021 with road work expected to happen next year using that money. He applied to pave the entirety of Helmsburg Road and Clay Lick Road. Awards are expected to be made later this year with the money being deposited next year, Magner explained.
To get Community Crossings grant money, the county has to put up a 25 percent match.
Magner said he is also working on putting together a paving plan to do with local funding. “We’ll kind of combine what funds we have left with what we have budgeted then we’ll do a local bid project for some more roads,” he said.
Magner said he was looking at many different roads to pave using the local funding, including Four Mile Ridge and Lanam Ridge.
“There are several of them out there. We need to earmark that towards what funds we have available. Just doing those two roads alone would eat up a year’s worth of money. Our intent would be to get those done yet this fall,” he said.
Construction on the Grandview Road bridge that goes over Salt Creek has also started. The bridge was expected to be closed on or after Aug. 25.
A bid for $338,485.20 from CLR Construction was accepted in May to reconstruct that bridge. It will be closed up to a maximum of 75 days as crews install new beams, a superstructure, decks and approaches.
Crews were also out late last month replacing culverts on Possum Trot Road.
