Engineer, crew making headway on secondary roads
The Ringgold County Secondary Roads Department has released a list of accomplishments over the past 18 months.
Background
The infrastructure of Ringgold County includes the following:
• 34 miles of Portland Cement Concrete Pavement
• 50 miles of Hot Mix Asphalt Pavement
• 64 miles of Seal Coat Roadways
• 531 miles of Gravel Roadways:
• 200 miles of Earthen Roadways.
• 207 Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) bridges (60% are either closed, posted for load, or otherwise restricted)
• 12 bridges with a span of less than 20 feet. (Any structure with a span less than 20’ is not considered a bridge by FHWA standards.)
Fiscal year 2021
Accomplishments by the county crew listed for FY21 (July1, 2020 to June 30, 2021) include:
4 – Bridges replaced
1 – Bridges repaired (major)
4 – Bridges repaired (minor)
88 – Culverts repaired or replaced
2 – miles of brush cleared and roadway reshaped by dozer
22 – miles of brush cut by excavator or skid loader
3.25 – miles of seal coat roadway improvements
45,856 tons of road rock was hauled and placed
In addition, two bridges were replaced by outside contractors.
Fiscal year 2022 (so far)
Accomplishments by the county crew listed for FY22 (July 1, 2021 to current) include:
4 – Bridges replaced
2 – Bridges repaired (minor)
65 – Culverts repaired or replaced
4.5 – miles of brush cleared and roadway reshaped by dozer
38 – miles of brush cut by excavator or skid loader
27,040 tons of road rock was hauled and placed
260 – signs repaired or replaced
In addition, one bridge received major repairs from an outside contractor.
“We have had a very productive past couple of years, and have gotten a lot necessary work done,” said Ringgold County engineer Jared Johnson. “I am very proud of all the Secondary Roads employees for all their hard work and what they have accomplished for Ringgold County. It’s a team effort, and when we come together and work collectively good things happen. We have limited funds and many maintenance items, repairs, and improvements needed so it’s important to be efficient as possible. The constant goal is to provide a safe and reliable secondary roadway system for the residents of Ringgold County, who are ultimately the primary users. There is still a lot of work to get done, and to the best of our ability we will continue to serve the needs of the Ringgold County secondary roads system.”
