Maintenance Issues
Maintenance Issues
Roadway Maintenance
The County maintains three types road. The types are paved or dust free, granular surfaced, and non-surfaced (dirt) roads.
The paved roads are primarily maintained by hiring contractors to perform resurfacing, crack filling, pavement repair, and pavement markings. Shoulder maintenance along with patching along these roads is usually done with county personnel.
Granular surfaced roads are maintained by the annual application of rock along with periodic blading of the roadway surface by county personnel. The application of granular surfacing is applied by county personnel. County personnel operating out of various maintenance facilities located around the county perform the blading. The County normally has six motor graders engaged in the blading operation for the 451 miles of granular surfaced and 135 miles of dirt roads. This number is augmented with one additional unit should the weather conditions dictate and allow. The number of miles that any one motor grader is responsible for varies with surfacing type, location, and traffic volumes, but on average they cover approximately 97 miles.
While granular surfaced roads are bladed on a regular basis, dirt roads are bladed on a "as needed" basis. Under certain weather conditions, a dirt road may only be bladed two or three times in a year.
Right of Way
The County maintains many items within the right of way. Most, but not all, county roads have a right of way of 66 feet or 33 feet each side of centerline. The right of way is by permanent easement. The county has specific duties to ensure that hazards be removed from the clear zone within the right of way. We also mow, cut brush and trees, and spray weeds. These are all part of our maintenance duties within the right of way.
Snow Removal
Fremont County's existing snow removal equipment is utilized for the purpose of clearing all snow or ice (when possible), sanding, salting, and other maintenance. These services are accomplished by using the money budgeted following the guidelines of the "Snow Removal Ordinance" adopted by the Board of Supervisors. The county has available for snow removal 7 motor graders, 3 single axle trucks, 4 tandem axle trucks, two end loaders, and one snow blower. All of the trucks are capable of spreading sand and salt in addition to plowing snow. As a general rule, motor graders remove snow from the granular roads and the trucks work on the paved system; however, on occasion, they can be intermixed on the various road surfaces.
Tile Crossings
Drainage tile that cross the roadway is the county's responsibility to maintain. If you suspect a problem exists with a road tile crossing or you would like to install a new crossing, you should contact the County Engineer's Office.
Bridge and Culvert Repairs
Any damage to a bridge should be reported to the County Engineer's Office. The County through it's own forces and with the help of contractors maintain the bridges and culverts of the county. The county maintains most driveway culverts onto a county road.
Ditch Cleaning
The county cleans ditches to maintain or improve roadway drainage. Ditches are also used for snow storage during the winter months. Requests for ditch cleaning far exceed our ability to clean ditches and are prioritized on need, request date, location, and other circumstances. We must seek approval from the "Iowa One Call System" prior to cleaning any ditch. The "Iowa One Call" approval can take up to three working days to acquire; therefore, when our equipment is in the area it does not mean that we will be able to clean the ditch. The dirt that is in the ditch belongs to the county to dispose of as they see fit. If you feel that a road ditch needs to be cleaned and/or you would like the dirt, you should contact the County Engineer's Office. This office also controls the road clearing fund. Requests for ditch cleaning that are made may be let for bids to contractors and paid for out of this fund.
Dust Control
The County does not apply dust control except in some cases of when your road is established as a "detour or haul road". You must notify (or have the company doing your dust control) notify this office before they install any form of dust control to the surface.
Roadway Signing
The County erects and maintains approximately 4200 signs on the Secondary Road System which does not include 911 signs. Signs are expensive to erect and maintain. Fremont County has one person that works full time on sign maintenance.
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