It would cost the county about $22 million to rebuild decades-old concrete streets in several of its older subdivisions, a cost the county can’t afford, officials said.
The $22 million price tag reflects the cost to replace all streets that need to be fully reconstructed in the next five years. About $9 million of that is for streets that need to be replaced immediately, according to the Johnson County Highway Department.
The county can’t afford the repairs, so the highway department is applying for funding through the state’s Community Crossings Matching Grant Program, which would go toward milling the concrete streets and putting down an asphalt overlay to buy the county some time.
As a series of milling and overlay projects, the county could do the work for about $2 million, said Luke Mastin, the county’s highway director. If the county gets the maximum $1 million from the grant, it would match that.
Most, if not all, of the roads rated one to three on the county’s road evaluation system could be temporarily repaired this way, he said. Any three-rated roads that would push the project over $2 million would be saved for next year’s Community Crossings grant application, he said.
The county’s road ratings are a reflection of how many years the roads are expected to last, based on their condition. Low-rated roads are riddled with cracks in the concrete, are crumbling along the edges and are getting worse as the pavement ages and the elements wear it down. Most of the streets were built in the 1970s and 1980s.
After some debate, the Johnson County Board of Commissioners gave Mastin permission to apply for the grant at its meeting July 26.
Commissioner Brian Baird said the project is a “Band-aid.” He was concerned about allocating money to fix something that might be broken again in five to 10 years, he said.
“Anytime you say the word temporary to me it raises the hair on the back of my neck,” Baird said.
The temporary fix is not ideal, but it is the option that will get the most roads repaired the fastest, Mastin said.
“The best way to think about it is: we need to do something to stop the bleeding before we can fix what is causing it,” he said during the meeting.
“So we are going to use a really expensive Band-aid,” Baird replied.
“Or we bleed out. And that’s where we are,” Mastin said.
If the county waits to repair the roads, they will continue to degrade. The three-rated roads could quickly become two or one rated and compound the problem further, he said.
The temporary fix could buy the county 10 to 15 years, Mastin said.
Some of the worst of the concrete streets have already been patched up in sections, but it is to the point that patching is no longer a feasible option. Patching can only go so far when entire blocks — entire subdivision street systems in some cases — are starting to crumble, he said.
Commissioner Ron West was in favor of the project. Many of the county’s older subdivisions are in his district, which comprises White River, Pleasant and Clark townships, and the county lacks the funding to do the number of full reconstructions needed without pursuing an alternate source of funding such as a bond, he said.
“These concrete streets have gone years without costing us anything in maintenance, and now we are to the point where many of them are in serious need of replacement or repair. Given the timeline involved with reconstruction, I kind of like the resurfacing because it buys us a little time,” West said.
There are few funding options available for subdivision streets. Most federal and state grants are reserved for major thoroughfares, Mastin said.
Prioritizing neighborhood streets is also tough when the county has other major concerns such as finishing Worthsville Road and preparing local roads for the increased traffic Interstate 69 will bring to White River Township, he said.
Commissioner Kevin Walls was also in favor of the temporary fix but asked Mastin to consider subdivisions outside White River Township for the next set of repairs. Neighborhoods in central and southern parts of the county also need work, he said.
If the county receives the grant, it will repair streets in as many as 15 subdivisions, according to the grant application.
The most extensive repairs are needed in the Carefree North, Carefree South, Woodland Streams, Pebble Hills and Willow Lakes subdivisions. Serenity Way in Carefree South would cost more than $84,000 to mill and overlay, while Willow Lake Drive in Willow Lakes would cost more than $74,000, the application shows.
Other neighborhoods that would be set for work with the grant are: Deerwood, Fairview Heights, Horizon Estates, Hunters Pointe, Mark 2, Pebble Run, Southwind Estates, Windsong, Woodcreek Estates and Woodcreek Terrace, according to the application.
If all projects are approved, 102,545 feet — about 19.4 miles of road — of pavement would be milled and overlaid with asphalt.
The grant awards will be announced in the fall. Work would begin in the spring, Mastin said.
