By: James Pruitt
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
Officials from the Ohio Department of Transportation gave a brief presentation June 20 on current and upcoming road projects in the county.
The presentation before the Williams County Board of Commissioners offered updates of several projects as well as opportunity to share successes of new initiatives.
Highway Management Administrator Layth Istefan led the presentation and was assisted by several associates.
The project to widen I-75 to three lanes in each direction from Perrysburg to Findlay (or at least to just north of the Wood County line) should be complete by the end of this year, Istefan said.
The state’s capital improvement program for roads will return funding levels to historical averages in 2017, when the budget will be around $1.6 billion. In 2016, the budget was around $2.2 billion and from 2014-15 the budget was $2.4 billion annually.
Staffing at ODOT continues to decline as the department becomes more efficient through combining county road departments. In 2010, there were 6,000 employees and by 2016, that number will have fallen to just below 5,000, Istefan said.
“In the late (19)90s there were about 12,000 employees,” Istefan said.
For the 2016 Construction season, ODOT Let projects total about $400 million and Local Let projects are about $38 million. Including projects over the next couple of years and that means an investment of $1 billion in the region, Istefan said.
Area Engineer Douglas Raby reviewed several Williams County projects.
SR 107 from CR 10 through Montpelier (not including the recent downtown paving) will be resurfaced. This will stretch to the overpass in the east and CR 10 in the west.
The project is not likely to sell until around Labor Day. The $522,000 project will likely continue into next year.
U.S. 20 from Alvordton through SR 108 in Fulton County will be resurfaced. Estimated cost is around $3.9 million. There are six structures (bridges and culverts) on this project.
-Resurfacing SR 2 from Defiance County Line to U.S. 6 and SR 15 from north Bryan to U.S. 20 for $3.85 million. The latter project removed the concrete approaches to U.S. 127 as well. That project will wrap up around the end of July.
-Resurfacing SR 34 from western Bryan to SR 576 and SR 49 from U.S. 20 to the Michigan State Line $428,500. These are chip seal projects.
-Ohio Bridge Program design build bridge at CR 4 (SR 25) over Owl Creek $200,000. The designs are being put together now with the work likely being completed in the fall.
-SR 576 Slab Bridge replacement north of Montpelier and SR 2 Slab bridge replacement east of Bryan $307,000
District Wide Construction
-Bridge Deck Sealing $3.5 million
-Mowing and Pavement Markings RPMs, traffic signal maintenance lighting maintenance, guardrail electrical maintenance bridge operation and maintenance $5.4 million
-Ohio Bridge Program Design Build Bridge at CR 4 (SR 25) over Owl Creek $200,000
-SR 576 Slab Bridge replacement north of Montpelier and SR 2 Slab bridge replacement east of Bryan $307,000
Williams County – Maintenance
•Pavement and Crack Sealing – Maintain Traffic
U.S. 6 from SLM 3.03 to 13.88
SR 34 from SLM 2.59 to 6.35
U.S. 127 from SLM 5.74 to 13.95
•Mill and repave bridge approaches – Maintain Traffic
U.S. 6 SLM 20.46 • SR 2 SLM 11.81
•Drainage – Closed to Traffic
U.S. 20A SLM 12.30 – Replace 15-inch culvert
U.S. 20A SLM 12.40 – Replace 30-inch culvert, adding catch basins/filling ditch
Ohio Pollinator Habitats
Kim Roessner, traffic administrator, talked about a new approach to rebuild bee and butterfly habitats to increase pollination. The process will involve four chemical burns of about 10 acres in Wood and Seneca counties to destroy the current plants and then in the fall of next year plant some high grasses before planting good seeds that will grow plants that will attract pollinators.
James Pruitt may be reached at
publisher@thevillagereporter.com