ARCHBOLD WEATHER

Engineers Report On County, Village Projects




Two area road projects are progressing well, engineers report.

Frank Onweller, Fulton County engineer, said the almost-$4.3 million, threephase resurfacing of Co. Rd. D is “progressing along just fine.

“There have been no glitches, other than the weather,” he said.

Crews from Gerken Paving, Napoleon, the only bidder on the project, have finished milling, or grinding off, two inches of pavement from the east limit of the village of Archbold to Co. Rd. 11, which is the first phase of the project.

Other phases include Co. Rd. D from St. Rt. 109 to the Lucas County line, and a portion of Co. Rd. 3 from St. Rt. 2 to the Henry County line.

The first layer of new pavement, known as the intermediate course, was scheduled to be finished by yesterday, Tuesday.

Also scheduled for Tuesday was the closure of two bridges on Co. Rd. D: one west of Co. Rd. 21, and one east of Co. Rd. 21.

Workers were to grind pavement off the bridges, waterproof them, and lay down new pavement today, Wednesday.

Workers were also scheduled to mill and pave the Co. Rd. D “slant” railroad crossing.

By the end of the week, Gerken Paving crews are to pull out of the Co. Rd. D project to catch up some other jobs.

Weather permitting, they are expected to be back and have the first phase of Co. Rd. D resurfaced by the third week in June, weather permitting, Onweller said.

Mechanic Street

Meanwhile, crews are working five 10-hour days on the more-than-$1.9 million East Mechanic Street reconstruction project in Archbold.

Bob Seaman, Archbold village engineer, said workers from Crestline Paving & Excavating, Toledo, are still working on installing a new waterline.

He anticipates that part of the project will require another two weeks.

The new waterline will vary in size from eight to 12 inches.

For many years, Richard Erbskorn, chief of the Archbold Fire Department until his death in 1995, was concerned about fires in the Mechanic Street area, noting that the only waterline was four inches in diameter.

Originally, Seaman said construction crews were working four 10-hour days on the job and taking Fridays off.

But with recent rains, the crews have been working five days.

There have been no problems with the project.

Plans call for the reconstruction of East Mechanic Street from South Defiance Street to North Lincoln Street.

Two blocks of West and Middle streets also will be rebuilt from East Mechanic Street south to South Street.

Seaman said East Mechanic Street remains open to local traffic. The road is closed in the immediate area where construction crews are working.

Funding

Archbold Village Council approved the bid of Crestline Paving & Excavating at its March 16 meeting.

Only $701.10 separated the Crestline bid from a bid submitted by Vernon Nagel, Inc., Napoleon.

Council received a $249,999 grant from the Ohio Public Works Commission to help fund the project.

Onweller said 80% of the funding for the Co. Rd. D resurfacing was obtained through a grant program.

Fulton County was originally to receive the funding for the 2017 construction season, but it was moved up to 2015 when other governmental entities weren’t ready to start their projects.

Fulton County is required to pay about $858,000, enough to pay for about 4.6 miles of the 23-mile project.



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