Repair begins on Winslow’s road system

The leader of Winslow’s governing board said work has finally begun to fix the village’s ailing road system.

At the regular meeting of the Winslow Village Board Monday night, board chairman Zack Klein said work has started to repair the first block of the road system that has spawned complaints by village residents.

“The project has started,” Klein said.

Driving through the small village it doesn’t take long to find roads filled so much with potholes that motorists have to brake as if they’re going through a series of close speed bumps.

Klein said only about 5 percent of the village’s streets are hard surfaced. The rest of the streets are Armourcoat layered or gravel.

That means several village blocks need to be repaired, and Klein said the way

the board members have decided to repair them is to have them hard surfaced with concrete.

“The long-term plan is to add one block at a time,” he said. “We have a relatively large problem ahead of us. It’s going to take a while to get it done.”

Klein said board members studied whether to surface with asphalt or concrete and opted for the concrete.

“The initial cost is only 1 to 2 percent more,” he said. “It’s 5 to 10 percent longer before any maintenance has to be done. It’s going to cost less in the long run to maintain concrete streets over asphalt or Armourcoat.”

Village board members are already finding problems with the Armourcoat.

Klein said the artificial surface material that was put down a few years ago is starting to break down and fall apart.

The cost for Fremont contractor Rich Osterloh to lay down the concrete is about $46,000, but another $1,500 or so will have to be added to that because of a 20-feet-long section of curb that had broken out along Elkhorn Street. The first block of the long-range project is from Main Street to Nebraska Street.

In addition, as the contractor was tearing out the old road he found a manhole cover that they didn’t know was there, Klein said.

Minutes from the April 14 meeting of the Winslow Village Board show that six inches of concrete will be laid.

Klein said the job should be finished in three weeks as long as the rain holds off. After the concrete is laid, it can’t be driven on for about 30 days.

“By the time it’s done it will cost us under $50,000 for that portion of the street,” he said.

“I’m very impressed so far,” said board member Phil Brazelton.

“We need to get the streets done so they’re passable again,” Klein said.

“I’m happy to see this,” said board member Jerry Sandeen.

“For the most part, I think people are happy it’s going in,” Klein said. “I’m getting some complaints, but most of the complaints I get is that it’s not done yet.

“We’re a small village with a very small budget,” he said. “We can only do a little at a time. It’s going to be a slow process, but it will get done eventually.”