Marion County to begin $2.1M fix to Roxbury road on Monday

By JASON TIDD

Staff writer

Work on fixing 330th Rd. will begin Monday after commissioners accepted bids Friday for roadwork and ditch grading that should be completed before Christmas.

Commissioners awarded the work to Bob Bergkamp to rebuild the road’s base and put down a 3-inch asphalt overlay for just over $2 million, and another $118,000 to grade the ditches at the same time.

The bid was the lowest of three.

Andale Construction Inc. bid just under $2.5 million to rebuild the base using a different technique, and another $550,000 to grade the ditches.

Andale’s bid included an extra two-year guarantee of their work on top of the one-year requirement, which would include fixing potholes. Road and bridge supervisor Jesse Hamm said his estimates did not show the two-year guarantee cost more than the amount to fix potholes.

Cornejo & Sons bid $3 million for the cement base and $440,000 for the ditch grading.

All bids came in under engineering estimates by Darin Neufeld of EBH. About $3.2 million was estimated for the base and $1 million for the ditch grading.

At $2.1 million, the project will cost less than half of the $5 million in the county’s capital improvement fund.

Hamm said the county has the equipment to grade the ditches itself but did not want county employees to damage a new road.

Hamm and Neufeld said projected traffic increases from a planned wind farm in the area could damage the road. Neufeld estimated 47,000 heavy trucks would traverse the first mile of 330th Rd., where a concrete plant is proposed.

If developer Tradewind Energy damages the road, it is responsible for fixing it to where it was before. Hamm said the wind farm company is taking photos and videos to show the road quality.

Neufeld said the county could recommend that Tradewind add a couple inches to the asphalt overlay to prevent some potential damage to the road.

In other business:

• Commissioners appointed Chase Gann, a rancher and oil producer in the Lehigh area, to the Marion County Community Economic Development Corporation board on commissioner Kent Becker’s “interim basis” nomination. “The only reason I say interim is he would like to attend several meetings before he commits permanently,” Becker said.
• Commissioners met behind closed doors for five minutes to discuss property acquisition and 10 minutes to discuss potential litigation under attorney-client privilege. No action was taken after either closed session.
• Becker suggested negotiating with Hoch Publishing on the rate for publishing delinquent taxes in newspapers.