County hopes higher bid will save money in the end

Taylor County is going with the higher of two bids received for asphalt for planned resurfacing projects on CTH M and CTH H in the western portion of the county.

Members of the Taylor County Highway Committee last month had voted to rebid the asphalt after having only received a bid from American Asphalt.

Highway commissioner Ben Stanfley explained the reasoning for rebidding the asphalt work, noting that last month the county had only received a bid from American Asphalt for the work. Since American Asphalt did not know the results of some state projects the bid submitted included additional hauling distances. In addition, since the project is close to the Chippewa County line, Taylor County hoped to get a bid submitted from the Chippewa County highway department which runs its own asphalt plant near Bloomer.

In reporting the results from rebidding, Stanfley noted the county saved about $55,000 with the new bids. He said that although Chippewa County’s projected cost was $2,800 cheaper than American Asphalt, the number of trucks needed and the hauling distance needed to be taken into account.

American Asphalt would be set up in a nearby gravel pit and because of the close distance would only need nine trucks to haul asphalt to keep the paving crews working steady. By comparison they estimated it would take 22-24 trucks to haul asphalt from the plant in Bloomer. “We could spent $2,800 in quite a hurry,” Stanfley said noting the risk of if the plant had to shut down or there was a vehicle breakdown and the crew was idle.

Commission members agreed. The rebidding also had the advantage of American Asphalt sharpening their pencils for the project and being able to piggyback off a nearby state highway paving job to reduce cost. The savings were significant enough to shave down the overall materials increase so far this year.

Stanley noted that based on the prices last month, the cost of asphalt for the county had taken a 23% jump. However, thanks to being able to reduce the cost for this project, they brought that total increase down to about 16-17%.

In related action, commission members gave their approval to allowing Stanley to bring a recent retiree back for a few weeks this summer as a limited term employee to help with hauling asphalt.

According to Stanfley, the county has nine trucks available for hauling but has eight drivers. Bringing on an LTE position would allow the county to use its own equipment for the project and keep more money in the county rather than hiring a contractor. He estimated it would cost about $52 per hour for a quad axle truck in addition to the cost of the driver. He said this is money the county would have to spend regardless if they brought on the limited term employee. Utilizing the county’s equipment would put that money into the equipment portion of the highway budget. With the approval by committee members, the request will go to the county’s finance and personnel committee for review.

ATV route

A request to open a section of Hwy 73 for ATV traffic met with mixed reaction from board members.

The request is to allow ATV traffic on Hwy 73 from CTH D to Oak Street in the town of Jump River. The Jump River town board passed a resolution supporting the route. According to commission member Myron Brooks it would save about 4 miles of travel for ATVers from having to circle around on town roads.

However, Brooks also expressed concern about the safety of that stretch of highway noting that there have been accidents there in the past.

According to Stanfley, the crash data for that section of highway shows a crash occurring there about once each year with some of them being severe in nature.

Stanfley explained that it is ultimately up to the state to determine if a state highway is opened to be used as a road route. He noted that it is rare for the state to even consider a section of road that is posted for 55 mph.

Brooks said that regardless of if the route was approved he would like to see that section of road reduced to 45 mph. “There is not good visibility,” he said.

Any request to adjust the speed on a state highway would have to begin at the town level with the town formally petitioning the state for a change.

Stanfley noted a lower speed in the area would make it more likely to approve the route change.

Committee chairman Ray Soper suggested the county could have the request reviewed by the traffic safety committee to see if that group had any concerns with it. In the end, any request would go to the full county board with the state having final say after that.

In other business, commission members: Approved bridge aid requests from Brink Avenue and Lekie Drive in the town of Browning; Miller Avenue in the town of Aurora and Hamm Drive in the town of Holway. Under the bridge aid program, the county splits the cost of the project with the towns. The county’s portion of these projects totals to be $63,678.

Discussed the potential use of a portion of CTH F by a proposed seed mill looking to expand into the town of Roosevelt. The road is posted for spring weight limits due to it only having three inches of blacktop surface. Soper noted the company estimates traffic of at least five semis per day year round with millions of pounds of seed projected to come in and out of the facility. He called on the county to work with the business and the community to allow the development to occur. Soper noted this was a major economic development project for the area which would potentially help the local tax base.

Stanfley said he had been asked about the company paying to maintain the road during the spring breakup, but said he was cautious about allowing that to take place noting he is keeping an eye on the potential for mining activity to occur with the company that owns a potential mine site in the county becoming more active in Marathon County.

County Board chairman Jim Metz suggested contacting the Northwest Regional Planning Commission about the possibility of grants to help upgrade the road to handle additional heavy truck traffic. Stanfley projected it would cost about $220,000 to put additional asphalt on the mile of road to bring it up to state highway standards.

He suggested it would be better to spend the money on the gravel town roads noting that the asphalt is the most expensive part of it. “You can put a lot of gravel down for that money,” Stanfley said.

Received an update on the cost of winter maintenance. The county’s six year average for winter maintenance was $444,000 and this year they spent $481,581. He said March was the worst month with the county typically spending $60,000 to $70,000 on winter weather, but this year they spent double that at $145,000. “March did it in for us,” he said.