County roads to be improved

The County’s Road Division currently maintains more than 2,000 miles of roads of which 807.05 miles are paved. However, because of the recent approval by the Board of Supervisors, more than 30 more miles will receive soil stabilization and/or construction starting in the Fiscal Year 2019-2020 and 2020-2021.

The roads for soil stabilization and/or construction for include:

Fiscal Year 2019-2020

• 3 miles of Shinarump Road from Aztec Road to Colorado Road (The BOS will consider at their April 6 meeting, a contract for stabilization and hard surfacing work);

• construction of .65 miles of Pierce Ferry Road from Lloyd Street to Ironwood Drive with 3 lanes and sidewalks and a 1-mile multipurpose path on Pierce Ferry Road from Ironwood Drive to the Mt. Tipton School at a cost of $928,290 (being paid for through Programmed Federal Funds and requires the County to only pay $52,912 or 5.7 percent), expected to start April 1;

• Smith Road in Meadview stabilization and hard surfacing to start in Mid-April; and

• portions of Verde, Teddy Roosevelt, Estrella and Egar Roads, in Golden Valley, to be chip sealed by County forces by June.

Fiscal Year 2020-2021 (pushed back from original schedule in FY 2019-2020)

• 2 miles of Bolsa Road from Egar Road to Gilbert Road at the cost of $95,000;

• 1 mile of Tapeats Drive from Egar Road to Guthrie Road at the cost of $60,000;

• 1.2 miles of Bowie Road from Chino Drive to Aqua Fria Drive at a cost of $60,000;

• 1.2 miles from Aqua Fria Drive from Bowie Road to Highway 93 at a cost of $60,000;

• 8 miles of Cottonwood Road from highway 93 west toward the Black Mountains at a cost of $400,000;

• construction of 10 miles of Pierce Ferry Road from Mile Marker 11 through 21 with centerline and edge line rumble strips at a cost of $346,400 (being paid for through Programmed Federal Funds requiring no cost to the County); and

• construction of 12 miles of Courtwright Road from Dike Road to Golden Shores (CR 1 Terminus) with centerline and edge line rumble strips at a cost of $433,980 (being paid for through Programmed Federal Funds requiring no cost to the county.

Soil stabilization is where the road is brought up to grade, millings are applied and then heavy equipment is rolled on the surface to compact the material

The average cost of soil stabilization is between $60,000 and $80,000 per mile, depending upon how much has to be done to bring the road up to grade.  The normal paving of a road with new asphalt, versus soil stabilization, costs about $350,000 per mile.

• Butch Meriwether