Sign approval gets county roads up to speed

Installation of speed limit signs on two Jasper County roads were approved by the board of supervisors during its meeting Tuesday morning.

Jasper County Engineer Russ Stutt introduced both items to the board, which unanimously voted in favor of establishing speed limit signage along Legion Street/East 68th Street South and South 28th Avenue East near the Buena Vista Township.

Stutt requested a 35 mph speed limit sign be placed on Legion Street, beginning at the intersection of Lincoln Street and heading north until it transitions to East 68th Street South. The speed limit will remain 35 mph for approximately 2,925 feet, at which point another sign will allow motorists to increase their speed to 45 mph.

“Which basically gets us past all the housing areas,” Stutt said. “From there on it would be 45 miles per hour the rest of the way, which I think is pretty reasonable.”

He also requested a 45 mph speed limit sign be established along South 28th Avenue East and going east to the intersection of Highway T22. The road, Stutt added, had also just been paved and was due for an appropriate speed limit sign to accompany the terrain.

Engineer’s report

Although it wasn’t originally included on the agenda, Stutt provided the supervisors with a monthly engineer’s report. As of June 19, the local crews have hauled approximately 55,836 tons of rock throughout the county; contractors have hauled an estimated 19,173 tons of rock.

The two bridge replacement projects along F48/Old Highway 6 are still under construction but much progress has been made. Stutt told the supervisors that crews were pouring the deck of the bridge going over Cherry Creek near Westwood Golf Course.

“Our bridge crew is working on their second bridge of the year, already, on Fourth Avenue over kind of north of Colfax,” Stutt said. “Should be getting close to be able to pour within the next week or so on that.”

Stutt mentioned the recent work on a county road near Maytag Dairy Farm in which crews mixed road stone and ground up shingles onto the gravel pathway, one of three in Jasper County to receive this treatment. Of the three, this particular mix “came out the best,” Stutt said.

Jasper County Supervisor Doug Cupples asked Stutt if the county needed to “pre-buy” more shingles in case another county or city were to deplete the reserves collected by the supplier. Stutt does not think it will be an issue, suggesting there is more than enough to go around. The results so far have been positive.

“No dust (and) it seems to bind together,” Stutt said. “We’ll watch it over the summer to see how it does in the heat.”

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com