Road and Bridge faces long list of summer projects

RBC I The Rio Blanco County Road and Bridge Department oversees 913 miles of roads, the county landfill between Rangely and Meeker, and now the department director says this summer is going to be one of the busiest ever with additional road repair and maintenance projects above the normal routine.
County Road and Bridge Department Director Dave Morland has 37 employees with which to do the county road and bridge maintenance on a year-round basis, but he said Friday that there are at least nine extra projects to be completed this summer; some of which may cause delays and road closures. Some may just cause a short slow-down of traffic.
Of the 913 miles of county road, 173 miles are asphalt and 740 miles are dirt/gravel. The projects this summer will include a combination of work on the asphalt and dirt roads as well as repairing and upgrading bridges within the county.
“Most of these projects are within the Road and Bridge Department’s operating budget,” Morland said. “But a couple are funded by outside sources, and all of these projects will keep us busier this year than we have been in quite a few years.
Morland is in his ninth year as department director and his 27th year with the department, having started in 1986 as a blade hand.
One project just beginning is the complete overlay of County Road (CR) 24. The Ryan Gulch road will undergo an overlay of all 13 miles from CR 5 to the shale plant. There will be periodic delays during the project.
The project is a combination of county funded along with a $1 million grant from the state Department of Local Affairs (DOLA), which is funded by federal mineral lease money returned to the county, Morland said.
“This is one of only seven projects of 34 projects considered around the state to be totally funded,” he said. “Along with contributions from some area oil-industry companies, we are very fortunate the county only has to pay a portion of this project.”
Another major project, within the department’s budget, is a magnesium chloride dust abatement project covering “high priority county roads” starting at the Utah line and running to Trappers Lake, Morland said. The magnesium chloride forms a hard shell on the pavement and saves overall costs because little to no maintenance is required for a year.
A third major project is to chip and seal all 33 miles of CR 5. Funded in the county operations budget, this project will begin in July and there will be some delays once the project begins.
“With 173 miles of pavement in the county, we like to chip and seal between 30 and 40 miles each years, so it takes us five years to chip and seal the entire county,” Morland said. “We will concentrate this summer on the full length of CR 5, and that will be taken care of for a while.”
Other projects on tap for this summer are:
• Impact fees will pay to replace a concrete box culvert at Mile Marker 19 on CR 5 in late summer. This will cause some delays.
• Department-budgeted funds will pay for the project to “rehab” the CR 34A bridge in downtown Rangely. The bridge is located north of Highway 64 and the north abutment is in need of repairs, Morland said. The road will be closed at the end of July or when water under the bridge is at a low level.
• Another “rehab” project will begin in mid-July on the back side of Ripple Creek Pass at Poose Creek. A concrete box culvert is in need of fixing, but this project, which is included in the county’s budget, is not expected to cause delays.
• The county will also replace a “deficient” bridge on CR 10 at South Fork in eastern Rio Blanco County. A state grant will help pay for this project to build a new bridge, but no major delays are expected because, Morland said, the current bridge will be the detour route while the new bridge is constructed.
• Now under way is an upgrade project on CR 57, off CR 8 at Miller Creek. This project is funded through Title II (Forest Reserve Funds). Gravel will be added and smoothed in some locations. Only slight delays are expected.
• The final project listed by Morland includes asphalt work on CR 1, which runs north out of Rangely. The project, which will include reconstructing some of the dips on the roadway, is part of the department’s planned budget and should result in only slight delays, he said.
Major Projects in 2014
The department is already planning for another major project that will likely take place next summer, Morland said. That project will entail a complete redesign and reconstruction of the intersection at Highway 64 and CR 5, known as the Piceance Creek Road.
The entire project is projected to cost $12.344 million, with $7,954,000 coming from a state grant through the RAMP (Responsible Acceleration of Maintenance and Partnerships) program and a county match of $3,850,000.
Morland said that since that project has already been completely designed the county rose from being a 50-something priority on the state list to likely within the top 10 in the state.
“We just recently submitted the application for the $8 million grant, but we skyrocketed up the priority list because it is already completely designed,” he said.
“This project is needed to improve a very dangerous intersection,” Morland said. “The work will create a continuous movement intersection with left turn lanes and acceleration and deceleration lanes and will replace a restricted, deficient bridge to make it easier and safer for trucks to turn on and off CR 5. Also, historically, that bridge has come within inches of being lifted off its supports by ice flowing under it.”
Morland said he learned Thursday that the application for the project made the short list “because of the urgency of the needed changes and because it has already been designed.”
He said the county must now do a second and final application for the funds and that he should hear from the state in August if the grant will be awarded. If so, Morland said the project could begin in the spring of 2014.