County engineers in Lancaster County, Nebraska, say the recent extreme heat is a contributing factor in the disintegration of the county roads, 1011now.com reports. Local officials are trying to find a way to control the costs fixing the roads.
Lancaster County Engineer Pam Dingman said that the heat and heavy construction-related traffic over-burdened the roadway on 40th St. near Rokeby Road. “We’ve really seen the edge of it just completely disintegrate,” Dingman told the news agency. “So, it did reach the point [June 22] where I did have to shut the road down.”
The estimated lifespan of 40th St. is 20 years, and it is currently 28 years old, so it is a candidate for overlay in the 2016-2017 budget, but the road is too dangerous for motorists right now. According to the report, crews were supposed to put new asphalt down on June 24 and reopen the road by the evening, but Dingman is responsible for monitoring 270 miles of county roads, many of which need to be repaired.
“Of that 270, we have about 90 miles that need to be overlaid right now,” Dingman told the news agency, explaining that the top layer of asphalt needs to be removed and replaced.
However, Dingman told the news agency that on June 23 the Lancaster County Board of Commissioners told her that the county needs to trim roughly $700,000 from its budget and asked her to make some cuts, which means she may only be able to overlay 20 miles of road in the next year.
She said she’s still waiting for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reimburse the county for the cost of repairing flooded roads during the last two years that adds up to approximately $3.2 to $3.7 million.
The new county budget starts in July.
