Erie County Engineer's Office

2007 Annual Report

Table Of Contents

Introduction

Dear Commissioners and citizens of Erie County:

Submitted herein is the Erie County Engineer's Annual Report for 2007 encompassing our county highways, bridges, drainage, ditch maintenance and tax mapping.

We maintained our county highway systems, within budget, in keeping with the demands placed upon them.  In 2007, approximately 2.83 miles of our county and township roads were resurfaced, and another 48.37 miles seal coated. Additionally, 203.68 miles of roadway centerline striping was completed throughout the county as we persist in our efforts to have the safest possible roadway systems by clearly marking them.  Also, our roads' rights-of-way were mowed three times during the year to maximize visibility at our intersections and beyond, while minimizing conflicts with wildlife and drifting snow.  22 traffic studies were completed, 6 of which were relative to speed, 10 traffic volume studies, 1 intersection safety study and 5 turning movement studies.  Other miscellaneous work included widening approximately .7 miles on Strecker Road between Kelley Road and the Norfolk Southern Railroad, reinforcing approximately 8 lane miles of berm on Bogart Road between SR 4 and US 250, wedge coating approximately 3.2 miles of Wahl Road and 2.9 miles of Portland Road, and making improvements to the north of Scheid Road on Huron Avery Road which increased sight distance. Crack sealing, (approximately 70 lane miles) was completed throughout the county.

We continue designing and inspecting township road projects.  This work included the resurfacing of Berlin Road using CDBG funding from south of Main Road to south of Hill Road, and preparation of plans and estimates for removing a knoll on Andress Road north of SR 113 for Berlin Township; preparation of a drainage improvement estimate for Green Road from Clary Road to 975' south and plan preparation and estimates to improve sight distance at the intersection of Nash Road with Burr Road for Florence Township; designed Camp Road storm drainage from Norfolk Southern Railroad south to Boos Ditch, and additionally, an embankment project on Rye Beach and Boos Roads for Huron Township; prepared and updated the resurfacing estimate for State Issue II funding for Perkins Township; prepared plans and an estimate for Coen Road ditch closure and relocation, and plans along with another estimate for Kneisel Road closure and relocation for Vermilion Township. Resurfacing work was completed on various roads in Perkins Township; chip seal work was completed throughout the county including Berlin, Florence, Groton, Huron, Margaretta, Milan, Oxford Townships and the Village of Bay View.

We also finalized the commissioning of signalization at the intersections of Perkins Avenue at Strub Road and Perkins Avenue at North Mall Boulevard.

Huron Avery Road was widened and resurfaced from US 250 to Rye Beach Road, a distance of 3.0 miles.

This past summer construction and/or rehabilitation work was completed on bridges F-307 in Florence Township, G-210 and G-304 in Groton Township, H-308 in Huron Township, 0-403 in Oxford Township, P-326 in Perkins Township and V-116 and V-208 in Vermilion Township, 8 in all.

We cleaned and applied anti-spall treatment to our county bridges.  Annual bridge inspections were finalized on December 4, 2007 and the final reports are scheduled to be out February 1, 2008 to the county commissioners.  Additionally, miscellaneous bridge repairs of varying magnitudes were completed on 8 other bridges countywide.

Other drainage work included replacing various piping and designing of other closed ditch systems:

• Installed 400' of 12" A2000 pipe and 2 catch basins on Main Road in Berlin Township; 192' lineal feet of 15" diameter RCP on Strecker Road in Groton Township;
• Designed 62' of 6" pipe on Portland Road for closure of roadside ditch in Groton Township;
• Designed 250' of 12" RCP on Wahl Road for closure of roadside ditch in Margaretta Township;
• 12" diameter RCP piping and 3 catch basins on and Northwest Road in Margaretta Township and Bryan Road in Milan Township;
• Installed 6 new catch basins on Huron-Avery Road in Milan Township;
• Reset driveway pipe and redirected water to outlet along 400' of ditch on Mason Road in Milan Township;
• 56 lineal feet of 72" RCP (culvert V-320) on Furnace Road in Vermilion Township;
• Installed 400' of 12" A2000 pipe and 3 catch basins on Joppa Road in Vermilion Township;
• Designed 56' of 72" RCP on Barnes Road in Vermilion Township.

20 commercial site plans and 35 lot splits were reviewed for compliance with our county drainage regulations.

Work was finally accepted on the Vineyards of Vermilion subdivision. At the end of 2007 there remains 4 other subdivisions in various stages of development and/or construction in Erie County.

1 petitioned ditch maintenance project was added to the project this year: The Sanctuary. The total of petitioned ditch maintenance projects now under maintenance is 121 plus the three joint custody ditches maintained by Sandusky County bring the grand total to 124.

Assistance was provided in 2007 to Florence, Margaretta, Perkins and Vermilion Townships for 5 State Issue 2 grant applications.

A State Issue 2 grant was applied for by this office to replace structure Ma-205 on Maple Avenue in Margaretta Township, in the amount of $325,000.

Our map room renovations were functionally completed making a much more efficient operation, benefiting from a new computer station for locating specific data.

In our tax mapping 3,343 parcel transfers were processed through December 2007, 278 less than calendar year 2006.

And finally, we have fulfilled our endeavors in the development of a comprehensive website for use by the public at www.erie-county-ohio.net/engineer/. Take a peek!

The county engineer's staff and field supervision strive to achieve high, but achievable goals. 2008 will be no exception with the ambitions of us all, focused upon maximizing our accomplishments within our available financial resources while serving our citizens professionally and expeditiously.

This summarizes the major contributions of the Erie County Engineers to the citizens of Erie County that have been accomplished during 2007.

Sincerely,

John D. Farschman, P.E., P.S.
Erie County Engineer

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Survey & Field Work

The work performed by Dave Williams, our surveyor, and his crew, Amanda Buser and Jeremy Blakely encompasses, but is not necessarily limited to the following:

1.  County and Township Roads, Bridge and Culvert work, Miscellaneous
     Drainage Projects and Property Locations for Easements.

2.  The Scope of Field Work includes:
       •  Determination of centerline control (set monument boxes)
       •  Topography
       •  Cross Sections
       •  Drainage

3.  Construction layout consisting of:
       •  Slope staking
       •  Layout of structures
       •  Setting grades
       •  Final quantity determinations

4.  Also, County and Township Road Resurfacing Projects and
     determination of total quantities completed.

5.  Survey Office Work for the general public which consists of:
       •  Researching Lot splits
       •  Verification of closure of all Subdivision Plats and lots
       •  Research the Right-Of-Way
       •  Assist the Public when, and as necessary

6.  The Survey Department researches records for centerline; records
     fieldwork notes; and writes all easements for the County Engineer or
     other County Officials.

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Bridge Report

General:
As per various sections of the Ohio Revised Code (O.R.C), the Erie County Engineer is required to inspect, maintain, and, where determined necessary, replace any highway bridge(s) for which the county is responsible.

Bridge Inspection:
The Erie County Engineer's Office inspected a total of 130 highway bridge structures in the year 2007.  The Federal Bridge Inspection standards and procedures were applied during these inspections, as mandated by federal law.

Additionally included is an outline of those structures currently scheduled for major rehabilitation or replacement between now and the year 2011, and their associated individual budgeted costs.

Bridge Maintenance:
Miscellaneous repair work was performed on six bridges in the year 2007.  Those repairs were addressed and completed in-house, and ranged from simple guardrail replacements to moderate structural concrete repair.

Repairs of similar scope are scheduled to be performed on various county bridge structures during the year 2008 as time, budget, and workforce availabilities permit.

Bridge Replacement:
Six bridges were replaced during the year 2007:
    1.  F-210 on Strecker Road
    2.  G-304 on Portland Road
    3.  H-308 on Fox Road
    4.  O-403 on Patten Tract Road
    5.  V-116 on Trinter Road
    6.  V-208 on Thompson Road

In addition, the deck and superstructure were replaced for P-326 on Strub Avenue and the deck only was replaced for F-307 on Furnace Road. The following pages list project data and photographs for these structures.

•  Click here to view 2008 Construction Projects

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Traffic Studies

Completed a total of 22 traffic studies.

Conducted (and finished studies that were still in progress at this time in 2006) six studies to change existing speed limits. Two of these studies were for speed limits on county roads, with the remaining four being for township roads. Three speed limits (Risden Road, Riley Road, and Bardshar Road) were revised as a result of these studies. Three other speed limits (Potter Road, and two on Smith Road) were recommended that no changes be made.

Conducted a total of 16 traffic volume studies.  Many of these volume studies were to determine design traffic volumes for various township and county projects, especially projects with Issue II or federal funding. Traffic counts allow appropriate design criteria, such as signal timing, lane and shoulder width, and pavement thickness, to be accurately determined and designed. Ten of the traffic studies recorded traffic volumes on roadway segments, and six studies recorded or evaluated traffic volumes at intersections.

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Ditch Maintenance

This was another productive year in regard to improvements that were made to the ditches and tiles systems under the care of this department. Several linear feet of ditch were either reshaped, realigned, dipped or had debris removed. These include Hermes, Schlessman, Adams, Steward-Thorne, Hoffman, Willard-McConnley, Boos, Washburn, Delematre, Edson, Trinter, Charles Smith, Beatty, and Huff Road Ditches. The following areas also had brush, limb or tree removal done on their banks: Boos, Steward-Thorne, Brown-Kuebeler, Wobser, Starr-Heimberger, Trinter, Johnson and the B&O ditches. The tile systems associated with Hoffman, Humm and Arlington Hts. Subdivision had improvements made as well.

One additional project for maintenance was received in 2007.  This department now manages and maintains 124 projects, of which includes 3 joint county projects with a base of over $14.33 million dollars.

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