Jasper Street Department outlines challenges of potentially taking over U.S. 231 mileage

Jasper Street Superintendent Jeff Theising gave a rundown of the impact of accepting U.S. 231 into the city’s inventory of streets.

“It’s no secret about the relinquishment of U.S. 231. It consists of 5.91 center miles and 17.8 lane miles,” he told the council. “It’s a significant amount.”

The cities of Jasper, Huntingburg and Dubois County officials have been involved in at least one conversation instigated by INDOT to begin the process of considering taking over the highway if the Mid-States Corridor is completed. The state has offered to pay the city to take the roadway over, though the amount they would pay has not been discussed publicly.

Theising explained the department has conducted a thorough inventory of assets along the roadway that will become the city’s responsibility, revealing numerous maintenance concerns that will impact the department workload and budget.

“This acquisition is going to have a significant effect on the street department and workload and budget for years to come,” Theising explained during the presentation.

The assessment identified six large culverts rated as a “six” on NDOT’s rating scale, though their exact locations have been difficult to determine, Theising said.

Traffic infrastructure represents a substantial portion of the assets, including 10 traffic signals and an estimated 250 directional arrows painted on the roadway. The department counted 56 arrows alone from 47th Street to Northwood Avenue. Theising mentioned this doesn’t include the crosswalks and stopbars also painted on the roadway that will have to be maintained.

There is also a lot of stormwater infrastructure underneath the road that the city would become responsible for. Theising admitted they have no idea what condition that infrastructure is in.

The roadway’s condition varies significantly along different sections. Using the statewide Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating (PASER) system, which scores road conditions on a scale of 1-10, the overall average rating is 5.8.

According to Theising, the roadway between 15th Street and Schuetter Road and Bartley to Second Street were considered a two on the PASER scale. The best sections between Bartley and Newton and 44th and 47th streets were considered nines.

Specific problem areas include 17th Street where “Newton between 17th and 16th needs a seepage tile installed,” which would be one of the first priorities if the city takes over maintenance. Additionally, there are “many soft spots between 7th Street and 15th Street” and numerous communication access lids that aren’t level.

Winter maintenance presents perhaps the most significant operational challenge. The department would need to purchase an additional large truck to operate as a snow plow and hire operators to handle snow removal on the roadway. Theising explained the department was maxed out with the current trucks and crews handling about 8.3 miles of coverage on average for snow and ice removal during an event.

The department also anticipates a change in winter maintenance methods that residents will notice. While INDOT has used calcium chloride for ice control, the city would use straight salt instead.

“I will say INDOT did an excellent job of keeping that thing clean. But they were using calcium chloride. We’re using straight salt. That’s not going to burn as quick as what that calcium chloride did. So people are going to see a level of service that’s going to be a little bit different,” Theising cautioned.

The department has no plans to use calcium chloride because its corrosiveness to vehicles and equipment.

Other maintenance concerns include traffic signs requiring reflectivity studies, guardrails on the south side that are rusted and need painting, and additional mowing and weed control responsibilities.

With the additional maintenance needs, Theising recommended that any funds received from INDOT be dedicated specifically to maintaining old U.S. 231.

This is very preliminary, said City Attorney Renee Kabrick in a phone interview Thursday.

She stated that if talks continue to move forward, there will be public meetings in which decisions on the roadway will be considered.