Highway department to do culvert inventory, inspections for towns

Taylor County will participate in a new state program to inventory and inspect road culverts which are over six feet in diameter.

At Tuesday’s highway committee meeting, members approved having the highway department participate in the site program to do the inventory and inspections. The action also included granting permission for the certified bridge inspectors in the department to get overtime pay to complete the work under the state’s timeline.

Highway commissioner Ben Stanfley had asked the board for permission for the overtime, if necessary, due to only having one additional staff member and himself having the necessary training to do the bridge inspections.

Under the program, culverts over 6 feet in diameter or a series of culverts whose aggregate diameters is over six feet in diameter must be inventoried and inspected as part of the state bridge aid program.

According to Stanfley, the state budget includes $12.5 million that was set aside for the work. He said by doing it the county would receive $100 per inventoried culvert and $350 per bridge inspection. The county highway crew will do the inventory which includes all the county, town and village roads. The state will do its own inventory for state roads. Another option is to hire an outside engineering contractor to do the work, but Stanfley said he felt they could do it in house and keep the state money. He said the money from the state would cover any additional wages if the county needed to pay overtime for the work to be completed.

“It is more than enough to cover each inspection,” he said.

Under the program the grouping of culverts must be properly spaced. Stanfley explained that they can have no more than half the width of the culvert between the culverts, with the default going to the smaller culvert if there is a size difference.

Stanfley said he felt it would be a lot if there were 50 in each town. He said the county is in a unique situation with having the headwaters for six major watersheds in the area.

In other business, committee members:

 Reviewed the bills and discussed the amount spent on trapping beavers. The county spent $2,400 on having beavers removed, which is based on $60 per beaver. Beavers will build dams in culverts and ditches resulting in water backing up and flooding roads. Stanfley noted they had counted the beaver tails to reach the number trapped.

 Discussed winter road rules. The county had followed the state in removing the winter road limits, but Stanfley said they are monitoring it closely and that they temporarily reinstated the winter weight rules last week. He said they measured 12 inches of frost in Medford early this week. However, with temperatures expected to climb next week, the limits may need to go back on.

“You have to give these guys a chance to have a living, but you still have to protect our roads too,” said committee chairman Ray Soper.