MINOT – About four million dollars of Ward County funds will go to improving 73 miles of county roads.
The County Commissioners voted Tuesday to approve $4,185,933.69 to have Asphalt Surface Technologies Corp crack seal 73 miles of paved county roads prior to chip sealing 65 miles of paved county roads and micro-surfacing 21 miles of county roads.
Chip sealing combines layers of asphalt with layers of aggregate. Micro surfacing is a road maintenance tool where several mixtures are laid, such as dense graded aggregate and asphalt emulsion.
The county also plans to chip seal some areas around Minot such as the new turning lanes at County Road 14 and 30th Street Southwest, a portion of County Road 10 east of County Road 19, and a portion of County Road 14 starting at 16th Street Southwest, east of 20th Street Southeast.
“The Department of Transportation has a big bid letting here in mid-April,” said Highway Engineer Dana Larsen. “There’s a bunch of chip sealing and micro surfacing jobs.”
Larsen said the county has been planning on improving these roads but did not previously have enough funds. The money will come from the Prairie Dog funding from the state.
“If you remember we did not get Prairie Dog funding,” Larsen told the commissioners. “Oil prices dropped and we were anticipating five million dollars of Prairie Dog funding and that did not happen. So, it basically got pushed down the road a few years.”
