Antelope County Outlines Road Work For Rest Of 2019

 County commissioners pushed road repair into high gear on Tuesday as they not only finalized a game plan of which roads are the No. 1 priority but also what roads must be repaired immediately.

“Roads are literally the No. 1 complaint in Antelope County,” County Road Superintendent Casey Dittrich said. “There were so many things we couldn’t control because we didn’t have a game plan. But now we have a game plan.”

Among the decisions made Tuesday was approving the immediate repair of various roads, including the Pierce-Neligh Road. Dittrich has secured millings from the State of Nebraska at $10 per ton — or about $130,000 — from both the Verdigre and Pierce areas.

Dittrich said the county will buy millings to repair four miles — two miles of the Pierce-Neligh Road (527th Avenue to 529th Ave) and two miles south of Clearwater (849th Road to 851st Road).

They will then grind an oil road northeast of Brunswick (on 866th Road  from 527th Ave to 531st Ave) and put the millings on 531st Avenue between 857th and 858th Road. Dittrich said the county plans to repair the oil road south of Oakdale to the cemetery and then grind the next several miles from 844th to 841st Road and return it back to gravel.

The county will also grind 527 1/2th Ave (Million Dollar Corner) from 837th to 838th and also 837th Road from Highway 14 to 523rd Ave. Those millings will be used on 839th Road west to 526th Ave.

Dittrich said Knife River Midwest of Sioux City, Iowa, will begin repairing the Royal Road on Monday from 855 Road to 855 1/2 Road of 519th Avenue. The project is expected to take about two weeks, pending weather.

During Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners also deemed 65 miles as the county’s top priority, which means these roads have the most use and are in the best condition. Dittrich said these roads will have a budget for contracted overlay in the future, whether it’s hot mix or concrete.

No. 1 priority roads are --
• Orchard  Road (from Highway 275 to the Knox County line)
• Royal Road (from Highway 275 to Grove Lake)
• Copenhagen Road (from Pierce-Neligh Road to Highway 20)
• Clearwater to Holt County line

“We have a long-term plan that I can use as a budgeting tool, and that’s the 65 miles of priority one roads that we need to work into the budget to be able to hire contractors to do that,” Dittrich said. “And that’s huge because we’ve never been able to do that. The oil roads kind of just got whatever we could scrape up and then funnel into the account.”

Dittrich said that approach was weather dependent. Now, the county will be able to hire more contracts, which will provide a better product and keep his regular maintainer operators on the gravel roads, rather than pulling them off to fill holes. Dittrich said his crew will be able to better maintain the roads rather than constantly be scrambling.

“From an organizational standpoint, this is priceless,” Dittrich said. “This gives employees a direction to move. Right now, we’ve been trying to keep people from having unsafe conditions, but we’ll now know if we’re going to make this road last a year, 10 years or forever. We know a little better what the future holds.”

In other items, the county approved the purchase of two tractors — a MX285 from Kayton International and 6470McCormick from Marx Repair.

​After more discussion on employee health insurance, commissioners voted to retain their current plan but to continue researching plans.

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