Road and Bridge monthly subcommittee held meeting on August 12

By Jim Allen 
The Road and Bridge subcommittee met at 9:00 a.m. on August 12 with Chairman Don Munson, Dick Hein, and Tom Glenn present.  

County engineer Jim Crane and others were also in attendance.  Mr. Munson called the meeting to order and Mr. Crane presented the order of business.

Crane gave an update on the Cronus Chemicals project which includes working with IDOT on the scheduling of the funding of the needed road work to complete the project.  An agreement with the Urbana-Champaign Sanitation District has been renewed concerning the gray water agreement with Cronus.  If the project is begun before April of 2021, environmental approval will be met.  Utilities have been in contact with engineering firm thyssenkrupp for the development of the project.

Road reclamation in Newman and Murdock Townships in the footprint of the wind farm was discussed.  As noted in the previous article, the scope of the work is to be determined.  However, there is general agreement that the work will be greater than previously estimated due to a number of variables.  According to the Road Use Agreement, the local authorities will have the final determination of the reclamation.  The original letter of credit will be adjusted when the final scope of work is determined.

The reclamation work will include the following.  All damaged culverts, box culverts, and bridges will be replaced.  Those that were determined to be damaged before  construction of the project will be replaced or upgraded by the local road jurisdictions, but those damaged after the construction will be the responsibility of EDPR.  

The roadway will be reduced to the widths approved by the local road jurisdictions as presented in the Transportation Impact Analysis (TIA).  The grade of the roadway will be returned to standards in the Road Use Agreement and ditches will be shaped to allow proper drainage as prescribed by the Illinois Department of Transportation Drainage Manual.   All known underground tile that is damaged will be replaced before rebuilding can take place.  This will include damaged drain facilities that are discovered during the post construction period road work whether the tiles are part of a drainage district or are private tiles.  After the ditches are graded to conform to standards, seeding and mulching will be applied to all ditch slope and erosion control measures as outlined in the SWPP (Storm Water Pollution Plan).

The plans and proposal should be out to bid in the December to January time frame with anticipated construction to begin May 1, 2021.  If weather conditions allow, the start time could be earlier.  The construction project will be set up as a working day contract.  

In other business, the subcommittee received updates on the Mt. Gilead bridge.  All structural concrete work has been completed and the contractor is performing waterway excavation and placing Rip-Rap.  The bridge deck is scheduled to be placed once the excavation and placement of Rip-Rap is complete.

The subcommittee recommended presenting a resolution to the full board to improve approximately 2.1 miles of County Highway 7 (Newman-Oakland Road).  This work will entail bump grinding approximately 284 bumps on this section of the road.  The total cost of the work will be $45,840 which will be split between the Douglas County Motor Fuel Fund and Douglas County FAS (Federal Aid Secondary) Matching Fund.  

With the finish of items on the agenda, the subcommittee went into closed session to discuss the appointment, employment, or compensation of specific employees.