December 4, 2020
Illinois

County halts fall projects, gets ready for winter

Patrick Stout, Voice Correspondent | The McDonough County Voice | Dec. 4, 2020 | www.mcdonoughvoice.com

MACOMB – The onset of frozen ground has caused the McDonough County Highway Department to put two projects on hold, to be finished in the spring.

County Engineer Rick Walker told the county board’s road and bridge committee Thursday that the rebuilt Sugar Creek Bridge is nearly complete except for approach work, and that the Bushnell Township Bridge west of town still needs embankment work, waterproofing, and installation of bridge rails.

Walker said the county has a contract for 1,000 tons of road salt, with an option to buy 20 percent more if needed. He said that he received 12 applications for a highway worker vacancy and would like to fill the position by the end of the month.

The county engineer said there is a bid-letting scheduled in January for a bridge replacement on County Highway 5 over the east fork of the Lamoine River. He estimated the total project cost at $990.000.

Walker said there is a bid-letting in March for the overlay of portions of county highways 24, 19, and 8. He said this could be a million-dollar project.

The Illinois Department of Transportation is unable to provide the state’s share of a $768,000 summer road sealcoating program, Walker told the committee. He said he is reviewing the original plan to see how much the county can afford.

Rodney Flora of RWE Renewables told the committee that his company has leases with local farmers for 10,000 acres of land for a wind farm in the southeastern portion of the county. He said RWE would like to lease another 6,000 acres. The estimated construction period for the wind farm would run from 2024 to 2025.

David Cadwalader told the committee that highway crews worked last month on sign maintenance, disc clearing, erosion repair, and shoulder maintenance on county roads, and installation of a corrugated metal pipe for Scotland Township. He said vehicle preparation for snow removal has been completed, and that crews will clean ditches and do brushcutting next week.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2020/12/04/county-halts-fall-projects-gets-ready-for-winter/