The Morgan County Highway Department is pumping the brakes on a portion of roadwork scheduled for this summer, in an effort to include a dangerous stretch in the total project.
Morgan County Highway Department Director Matt Coultas gave an update on proposed roadwork for the year during the Morgan County Commissioners Meeting this morning.
Coultas says the planed project to rehabilitate the north half of Arenzville-Concord Road is being paused as more potential funding has become available allowing for more miles of road to be covered.
“Our anticipated project scope was to widen shoulders, incorporate rumble strips and repave with HMA or hot mix asphalt through that north section of roadway. Just recently though, the state submitted some requests for application for HSIP funds which are safety monies.
With that particular project, with the rumble strips and the widening and the pavement marking, it’s a project that could potentially fit for that funding source. So now are going to kind of back up and go through that application process and try to incorporate not only the northern section of the Concord-Arenzville Road, but the entire stretch of the road from Route 67 there in the north to the county line near Arenzville.
Coultas says the county expects to receive it’s fourth Rebuild Illinois funding allocation in June or July followed by a fifth and sixth sometime next year. He says the state requires both the RBI funding and Highway Safety funds to be received before the county can begin the project.
Coultas says with the new potential funding, it is better in the long run to continue the project until next summer.
“Really with the expense of the project, I think we had an initial estimate of around $1.6 million just to do the northern section. That was pretty much going to utilize our RBI monies that we were going to see for that particular project itself.
But with this potential HSIP funding source, we may be able to incorporate those funds into this project and accomplish maybe the entire section of road which will be really great for that area.”
Coultas says the highway department had intended to start the north section of Arenzville-Concord Road in late summer of this year. However with the potential to add to the project and complete the entire road, it will now be scheduled to start in late summer of next year.
In other business the county commissioners approved $47,865.60 in bills to be paid, which includes the the purchase of a new Dodge SUV for the Sheriff’s Department the board approved in February at a cost of $30,185.00.
A class C liquor license was also approved for Brickey’s Junction Cabin BBQ & Brew LLC in Murrayville.