The Office of the Fulton County Engineer has released their 2013-14 Snow and Ice Report to the Fulton County Commissioners. Due to the record amounts of snowfall in the 2013-14 winter, increases in nearly every category are apparent.
The first day of snow and ice control efforts began on December 9th, 2013 and ended on April 15th, 2014. “The winter season did not get off to an unusually early start but it was long and brutal as we all know. This was only the third time in the last 10 years that we had snow into the month of April,” noted Fulton County Engineer, Frank T. Onweller, P.E., P.S. The Highway crews were called out for a total of 59 days during the winter season, 11 of those days in December and 25 days in January. There were 5,789 manhours worked, including 3,102 of overtime. 78,842 lane miles were driven with a total cost of $647,786 (includes $62,535 to contractors to push back drifts). Fulton County maintains 726 lane miles of roadways. The total cost was a 191% increase over the previous year.
Salt usage to treat snow and ice covered roads was also at an increase this winter. “North American Salt was our supplier this season. We ended up purchasing slightly more than our contracted amount but we never had a time where we were out or close to running out of salt,” states Onweller. The County used 2,470 tons of salt. “The previous 10 winters we averaged using 1,000 tons of salt so this season was significantly higher”, said Onweller. Prior to this winter, we mixed small #9 stone with our salt but this season we went away from the stone mix and just spread pure salt. We reduced the application rate of the material on the roads so a similar amount of salt was being put down as in previous years.” Onweller noted that making this change eliminated the collection of the excess stone at the intersections and allowed them to remove the hard packed snow and ice from the roads faster.
How does the County pay for this? Onweller said that the cost for the winter snow and ice control operations, like all other operational costs and expenditures in the County Engineer’s Office and Highway Department, are paid for from revenue generated from the collection of motor vehicle license registration fees and state fuel taxes. “We saw significant increases in costs this year due to our harsh winter, but generally, this evens out over time.”
With the last of the winter weather behind us, the County Engineer’s Office is preparing for several notable projects throughout Fulton County this summer. They will be reconstructing Road 21 between State Route 2 and Road H in German Township. This includes regrading the roadside gutters and shoulders as well as widening, reconstructing, and resurfacing of the existing roadway from 18 feet to 20 feet. The estimated cost of this project is $1,000,000,000.
Another notable project is the Bridge 5-2HJ.0 replacement located on Road 5-2 just north of Road HJ in Fulton Township. The estimated cost of construction for this project is $343,000.00. They will also be replacing Bridge 3B.1 located on Road 3 just north of Road B in Swancreek Township. The estimated cost of this construction is $300,000.00.
For more information, please contact the Office of the Fulton County Engineer at 419-335-3816 or visit the website at www.fultoncountyoh.com/engineer. If you would like to be notified of bid postings, sign up for road construction notices and/or other information from the Engineer’s office, visit the Notify Me tab located on the website.