Minimum design standards approved for county roads and bridges

Minimum design standards for Jasper County secondary roads and bridges were approved by the Jasper County Board of Supervisors Tuesday.

A public hearing was held with no comment before the board approved the ordinance on the first reading. They then chose to wave the final two readings and passed the ordinance.

“It’s to set minimum standards in case we have an event. For example, if we have an 18-foot infrastructure that was washed out in a flood, we can say that it is our policy to replace with a 24-foot-wide concrete structure,” Engineer Russ Stutt said.

The policy is for the construction roads, reconstruction of roads, construction of bridges, reconstruction of bridges and other roadways and drainage features associated with road and bridge construction. The criteria is based on accepted engineering practices and standards established by the Iowa Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration.

The policy includes that new pavement will be constructed with a minimum of 22 feet wide pavement and granular shoulders. Intersections with non-paved roads will have pavement extended back onto the intersection a minimum of 50 feet beyond the end of the intersection radius. Reconstructed roads will be 22 feet wide or to the previous pavement width, whichever is greater.

Newly constructed gravel roads will have 26 feet of finished top, including shoulders. Reconstructed gravel roads will be the previous width prior to reconstruction.

Bridges on paved routs will be built with a minimum width of 30 feet. Wider structures will be installed when there are issues related to oversize vehicles, pedestrian facilities, biking usage or other issues where additional width if felt necessary.

On unpaved routes, bridges will normally be a minimum of 24 feet. Culverts can be metal or concrete and pipe culverts larger than 54 inches in diameter may be substituted with reinforced box culverts.

The board also approved the termination of an agreement between Jasper County and REG of Newton for private redevelopment that was instituted in Nov., 2006. Jasper County Auditor Dennis Parrot said that REG had met all stipulations of the agreement that ended in January of this year.

In other business:

• Connie Bunse was named to the Compensation Board.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com