Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Ah, springtime in Indiana.
The time for robins, tulips - and potholes.
And as the potholes appear, the Kosciusko County Highway Department receives many calls about their sizes and locations.
Rob Ladson, KCHD superintendent and engineer, said potholes occur when water gets through the cracks in the pavement, freezes, then expands, causing the road to flex. Over time, the surface weakens. "Cars drive over and knock it out. The weight of the vehicle is a factor."
Ladson has been with the county highway department for seven years.
"It's probably the worst I've seen since I've been here," he said of the potholes this year.
One of the problems in getting potholes fixed in late winter or too early in the spring is that not all the asphalt plants are up and running, Ladson said. When they are able to get out and fix the potholes at this time of year, he said, sometimes it's just a temporary fix.
The highway department has been working on patching county roads for several weeks now.
"People have been very patient, it seems like," Ladson said. "They've been notifying us, which is what we want."
The county highway department maintains just under 1,200 miles of road.
"I think they're doing an excellent job," Brad Jackson, county commissioner, said of the highway department. With more money, he said, the department could do more, but with the money they have, the department stretches it to meet their needs. And Ladson, Jackson said, "is very forward thinking. He looks ahead. He could make things appear to be better ... but he gets down to the root (of the problem) and handles it beforehand."
Funded primarily by the gasoline tax, the department has three budgets.
The motor vehicle highway fund and the Local Roads and Streets Fund are both gasoline tax funded. The cumulative bridge fund is the only property tax money the highway department in Kosciusko County receives. Each fund, Ladson said, is a dedicated fund, which means it can be used only for certain items.
"MVH is probably the most flexible," Ladson said. It can be used for salaries, wages, purchase of equipment, building maintenance and repairs, road materials and road repairs. "We do use it for that."
The Local Roads and Streets Fund can be primarily used only for building roads.
"In Kosciusko County, we just use it for buying asphalt material and aggragates," Ladson said.
The cumulative bridge fund is used only for bridges and bridge-related items. There are 104 bridges in Kosciusko County.
"We rank very high in the state on our bridges."
A bridge is defined as a structure with a waterway opening of 20 feet or greater.
"That's a federal definition and they're inspected every two years," Ladson said.
The county also has "small structures." Those are defined as waterway structures with openings of 3 to 20 feet. Cumulative bridge money can be used for small structures.
There's a lot of small structures, Ladson said. They are not federally inspected, but the county does inspect them. Ladson said he believes the county's small structures are in good shape.
The MVH 2004 budget is approximately $3.8 million. The LRS 2004 budget is estimated at $1.05 million and the cumulative bridge fund is rounded at $1.105 million.
Ladson said road repairs could be funded by the Economic Development Income Tax, but there is no talk of doing so. They also could be funded with a wheel tax, as many other area counties have gone to, but Ladson said the county doesn't plan on implementing one.
"While there's always more work we could be doing, I believe we are moving in the right direction and have no intentions of suggesting a wheel tax," he said, and he believes the county council and commissioners would not support such an action.
"I believe we are in pretty good shape," he said. "Things could change, of course. In each of those funds, we have a pretty good rainy day fund."
Over the years, the highway has replaced equipment. It was all paid for and no money was borrowed to pay for it. Repairs at the highway department also had to be made - septic, lighting, electrical and overhead doors repaired.
"I anticipate we will have to replace the furnishing out here. I anticipate we will have to replace the plumbing." The plumbing piping is buried in concrete and pretty rusty.
"It's my intention to work on buying some of the best equipment we can get." He also said that as for bridge repairs and replacement, if the county is not dilligent on that, there could be problems down the road.
He wants to continue to use hot mix asphalt for roads, and projects the hot mix has been used for includes work on Old U.S. 30E, CR 1350N, CR 300E and CR 700W by Burket.
Cold mix asphalt is better used for low-volume roads and is cheaper, but also of lower quality.
As for road projects this summer, Ladson said, "The schedule is all based on funding." The projects include work on Bridge 226 (in Warsaw, near the wastewater treatment plant), Bridge 289 to Cedar Point Island on Lake Wawasee, Bridge 250 on South Street in North Webster and work in the Shull and Flagstone Terrace additions.
With the gas prices increasing, the highway department's funding could be affected because the gas tax funds the highway department.
As asphalt is a product of petroleum, its price also could be affected. However, Ladson said, the county has locked in the asphalt rates for this year and they received the best rate in the state.
When Ladson made his budget, he said he tried not to overproject and was conservative.
Jackson said, "Rob is a huge asset to the county. He does a good job. He works well with people. He's very frugal."
Lastly, as the highway crews are out and about repairing or improving roads, Ladson said, "I do ask that people slow down and be considerate of guys working on the roads."
