County Engineer reports productive construction season

With the heart of the construction season coming to a close as the weather turns cooler, Adair County Engineer Nick Kauffman said it has been another productive construction season within the county.

At Wednesday, Oct. 29′s board of supervisors meeting, the board took care of a handful of matters for secondary roads, including a wage increase for the assistant to the engineer and a new hire.

The board also authorized the signing of front pages for two projects, including a bridge project on the north side of Section 7 of Eureka Township and another on the west side of Section 22 of Lee Township.

In a follow-up email to the newspaper, Kauffman also recapped other projects that had at least reached substantial completion as of this Monday. They included:

• granular surfacing by Schildberg Construction for farm to market roads, paid for by farm to market funds costing $251,436.95

• a box culvert in Richland Township by Gus Construction, paid for by LOST and Hungry Canyons funds costing $135,365.52

• a bridge project in Lincoln Township by Murphy Heavy Contracting, paid for with TIF money, costing $707,369.32

• a box culvert in Lee Township by Gus Construction, paid for by farm to market funds, costing $470,837.37

• a box culvert in Lincoln Township by Gus Construction, paid for by TIF funds, costing $314,704.81

• pavement markings by Highway Signing, paid for by farm to market funds, costing $29,591.88

• a resurfacing of Henry A Wallace Road by Henningsen Construction, paid for by TIF funds, costing $4.3 million

• stabilization/HMA surfacing of 290th Street, paid for by TIF funds, costing $182,301.04 to date

There are bridge replacement projects in Eureka and Lee townships, paid for by LOST and TIF, respectively, that are due to have bid lettings this month.

Listed as in-progress are a slope protection and culvert repair project by Murphy Heavy Contracting, costing $92,610. Work has not yet begun on a farm to market project costing $184,690 by Manatt’s Inc. for crack sealing.

“Most of the summer was consumed by the tornado cleanup,” Kauffman told the newspaper. “The construction projects were not really significantly impacted by the weather, but it did present some challenges for my staff and I. The two bridges that will go to letting this month would have been let months sooner if the tornado had not occurred.”

Kauffman said while the bulk of construction quiets down around November, bridges can usually be built year-round.