Bedford, Ida townships plot to fund road repairs

7/2/2008

TEMPERANCE - If the repair of a pothole-plagued section of Rauch Road between Lewis Avenue and Jackman Road will happen this year, it won't be done with help from the Monroe County commissioners.

The board of commissioners last week said no to a plan to fund the $190,000 cost to resurface a one-mile section of the heavily traveled road that is deemed a local boundary road for Ida and Bedford townships.

The panel also turned down requests for financial aid to repair gravel roads in townships in the northern end of the county.

Bedford and Ida townships and the Monroe County Road Commission have hatched a plan to get a two-mile section of the east-west thoroughfare repaired before Labor Day.

Bedford Township has approved pitching in $140,000 for the project, and Ida Township has given the go-ahead to use $140,000 from its coffers to revamp Rauch from Secor to Jackman roads.

In May, the county road commission said it would contribute $125,000 to the estimated $650,000 project.

The repair of the road would involve grinding the surface and adding stone and 2 1/2 inches of an asphalt cap.

The new 20-foot-wide roadway would be supported by two-foot gravel shoulders. It would not involve rebuilding or widening.

The proposal considered by the county commissioners was for using the townships' share from the county's "self-help road program," which makes about $500,000 available each year to townships for improvements.

However, Bedford Township Supervisor Walt Wilburn said the request that was rejected by the commissioners would have required the township to take an advance on its self-help funds, which the township didn't want to do.

"We didn't want to borrow against our future self-help money for next year and not have any funds coming in for future projects," he said.

Mr. Wilburn said the township wanted money from the commissioners' unreserved funds for the project.

"I don't want to throw the blame on the county commissioners. We were hoping they could find the money in their budget like we found the money in our budget," he said.

Mr. Wilburn said he was pleased with the cooperation between the townships and the road commission working together on the project.