Supervisors discuss 230th Street reshaping

The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors held a lengthy meeting with property owners on 230th Street regarding a proposed road improvement project. 

Plans call for the road to be re-crowned and re-shaped to a width of 30 feet. Currently, the road is well over 35 feet. 

Supervisor Steve Ratcliff said he was against the re-shaping of the road, feeling there was no cost savings to the county given the reasons for reshaping the road. Supervisor Donna Robinson was neither for or against the road work, but wanted the road to be safe and cost effective. 

Supervisor Bryant Amos said he’d welcome the chance to keep the roads wider for farm traffic and larger equipment, but that his concern was the fact the road had no crown, and the costs of gravel to maintain a wider road wasn’t cost effective for the county. 

Supervisor Mark Peterson lives off of 230th Street and said he agreed the road needed to have a crown that could be maintained and a ditch. Peterson said two other roads which had been reshaped and narrowed he’d received complaints about, but he couldn’t say for sure if it as because of the narrowing. Still, Peterson said the road was too wide in places but said he was not in favor of narrowing roads strictly for the exercise of narrowing them. 

County Engineer Brad Skinner said their overall objective was to do a good job and maintain roads, and none of their projects were intended to put restrictions on anyone. 

“We’re trying to maintain the roads as efficiently as we can, keep them safe, and allow for farmers to do their business. We’re looking for the right answer, and the best answer,” Skinner said. 

Skinner said they were looking to pull up the foreslopes of the road so if a vehicle were to go off the road, the driver could bring the car back up the road, or lessen the impact of the vehicle slid into the bottom of the ditch. The crown was important for the gravel road to allow for water from rainfall to drain off of the gravel. Skinner said a manageable width to the roads made them easier for crews to maintain. 

Don Gohlinghorst, who lives on M Avenue, said that particular road was narrowed and quickly lost its crown. 

“The crown is going away already. Sections of the road got packed with mud. Also, when the work got done, there was no consistency on the foreslope. Sections are still sharp-edged, which makes it treacherous for driving,” Gohlinghorst said.

Gohlinghorst added the road got more rock in the spring, it made the road more safer for travel again. Skinner said once the roads are brought to the right width, they will utilize a retriever to throw rock that has fallen into the dirt back up onto the roadway. 

 The biggest issue raised was whether the narrowing of the road would make it more difficult for farm equipment to travel the road, and whether or not the cost savings for narrowing the road made the project worthwhile. 

“The widening of the road eats up a lot of gravel. The average road for maintenance takes 100 tons per mile, per year. We’re doing about double that on the road due to the width. The savings would be about $4,000 per mile. That doesn’t seem like a lot when you factor one road, but if you project that over 525 miles of rock, it’s a big number,” Skinner said. 

Roger Bergstrom asked what type of training was given to the operators since the crowning of the roads was so important. 

Are the operators making sure they’re not grading before bad weather? Is there some sort of ongoing training to be given to the operators to be made that much better and more efficient?”

Skinner said all the operators are given regular training every three years, and his department holds roundtables to discuss projects and make sure they’re being handled as efficiently as possible. Skinner also advised the reshaping of the road would have no effect on the fences, and at the worst, a few mailboxes would have to be moved at the county’s expense, as they would be too far away from the reshaped road. 

Clayton Renander posed the question of whether those who were in attendance could meet on 230th Street and stake out the intended project so they could measure the width of the road against their farm equipment for a visual reference. 

The supervisors were in agreement for the meeting, and a demonstration was done with the supervisors, Skinner, and those in attendance. 

Further discussion on the reshaping of the road is scheduled for a future Board of Supervisors meeting.