BENTONVILLE -- Benton County is on schedule to meet or exceed its 2016 goal for paving county roads, officials said.
The county adopted a plan with a paving budget of about $2.7 million. The project list includes 24.5 miles of new construction asphalt paving work; 13.75 miles of new construction double chip and seal work; and 15 miles of single chip and seal overlay paving work.
County road plan
Benton County’s 2016 road work plan is posted on the county’s website at www.bentoncountyar.…. The list includes the individual road projects by name, length and location of the road; type of work; estimated cost of the work; justification for the work; justice of the peace district in which the road is located; and the criteria the county uses to select roads for inclusion in the work plan.
Source: Benton County
"Our paving crews are pretty much caught up," said County Judge Bob Clinard. "We have been waiting on those roads around the new school in Centerton for them to get all of that dirt moved. They're about done with that. We're going to make the schedule and maybe even exceed it."
The county has increased road paving done by the Road Department the last few years. The county proposed paving projects for 2015 that totaled about 53 miles with a $2.2 million paving budget. In 2014, the county initially planned to pave about 34 miles of county roads. The work was reduced to about 22 miles after officials cut the department's budget by $450,000 to pay for rural ambulance service.
Jay Frasier, the county's public services administrator who oversees the Road Department, said the work on county bridges planned for the year also is progressing. The county opened the rebuilt Stagecoach Road Bridge over Spavinaw Creek last week and expects to have the replacement for the Corinth Road Bridge in place by the end of June, Frasier said. The Corinth Road Bridge was washed away by flooding in 2013.
Other bridge projects are in different stages of design work, including a plan to rehabilitate the historic War Eagle Bridge. The county expects to ask for bids on the War Eagle Bridge work in August.
Clinard told justices of the peace during the budget process he may ask for more money for road work if the county reaches its goal with good paving weather remaining before the end of the year. Pat Adams, justice of the peace and chairman of the county's Transportation Committee, said he prefers the county contract for extra paving work and leave county crews to grading and maintenance work.
"I think we could cut the amount of road miles county employees are doing by about half. We could subcontract it out and spend the rest of our time and manpower getting other work done," he said.
Adams also plans to renew his push to have the county hire a staff engineer. Having an engineer to design the road projects will improve the quality of work done, he said.
"Our Road Department employees do good work, but they're not engineers," he said. "With an engineer and a contracted project, they can bond it and guarantee it. Then the county has recourse if something isn't done right to have the contractor come back and make it right."
The work program at the Road Department was a major issue in the campaign for the Republican Party nomination for county judge, won by Barry Moehring. Moehring, a justice of the peace, defeated Clinard in March. Moehring faces Ronnie L. Smith, a Libertarian party candidate, and Jeff Broadston, a write-in candidate, in the November election.
Moehring said, if elected, he plans to change the way the county develops the work plan for the Road Department. He has said he wants the county to work with cities and school districts and the business community to consider overall transportation needs.
"What is going to change is how we address the county's transportation problems. It's a much more complex and collaborative problem than simply paving 50 miles of roads every years."
NW News on 05/30/2016