Several Greene County road projects are slated to happen later this year.

Greene County Engineer Wade Weiss says two main projects that tax increment financing (TIF) funds from the wind turbines that will be used include County Road E-18 from Highway 144 to the Boone County line and County Road P-46 from E-18 south to E-26. He talks about the details of the County Road E-18 project with the anticipation of additional grain hauling traffic with Landus Cooperative building a new facility near Boxholm in Boone County.

“We’re making these pavements, we’re not doing them as a standard county pavement of 5.5 to six inch deep. We’re thickening that section to ten inches. We’re actually putting a sub-base, we’re actually crushing the concrete that’s there and using a sub-base. So we’re building these for 75, 80, hopefully 100 year pavements is what we’re anticipating.”

Weiss notes another road project that farm to market funds will be used on is the last 1.5 miles of the northern section of County Road P-29.

“And everyone knows that’s a highly traveled road again. We’re doing that 26-foot wide, so we’re doing a two-foot paved shoulder on that, that’s part of this project. But that road has deteriorated. That (road) was done in 1994. It seems like a long time ago but it really went by in a hurry. We’re doing some subdrain installation there, we’re putting a deeper section, that road really gets hit with the Iowa Highway 4 traffic that just ends up going north to Fort Dodge..”  

Weiss appreciates the work by the Greene County Board of Supervisors to approve the Urban Renewal Plan that includes the details of TIF funds that are tied to the specific road projects. He adds that bid letting will be through the Iowa Department of Transportation this winter, with work to begin in late spring.