11 miles of Butler County roads overlayed in 2020

Butler County officials have completed all road asphalt overlay work scheduled for 2020, totaling about 11 miles, but promise more is planned for the future.

Road maintenance, Presiding Commissioner Vince Lampe said, is one of the county’s largest expenditures each year.

In the Western District in 2020, Lampe said, county roads 451, 448, 426, 472-1, 475 and 4706 were overlayed, as well as Crabapple Lane and Victoria.

In the Eastern District, county roads 569, 543 (partial), 556, 534, 309, 608 (partial), Brandyn Avenue,Lake Shore Drive, Brown Lane, Jacob Lane, Wayne Lane and Red Robin Lane were completed.

“These are roads that have already been asphalted. Once they get so bad, we have to overlay them,” Lampe said.

“What Butch (Anderson, eastern district commissioner) and I did last year was go out and travel every one of our blacktop roads with our supervisors, and we rated them to try to make sure we picked out the worst roads we had to do,” explained Western District Commissioner Boots LeGrand.

Two roads received asphalt paving for the first time, Lampe said, including Stone Creek and Lawnetta. Those were completed on a cost-share basis with residents, who paid for the materials while the county did the work.

All the work, Lampe said, was done by county employees.

“Our county crews actually do it all,” he said.

In years past, it was contracted out, but, Lampe said, he thought the county could do it cheaper.

Butler County Highway Department officials also will begin a new process next year, designed to extend the life of its paved roads.

“We’re going to start seal coating,” Lampe said. “We’re going to spray oil all over existing blacktops. It’s supposed to generate new life to them and get us a few years farther down the road.”

Some asphalt roads last three or four years before they require a new overlay, Lampe said, and the oil treatment is expected to get longer life out of them.

Roads currently planned for the seal coating process include “304, 337, Agee Road, 4421, Hickman, Holly Trails, Oakmoore, Windwood, Rhine Road, 417, 415, 421, 452 and 489,” Lampe said.

Weather conditions, Lampe said, will be the determining factor.

“We can’t do it if it’s not sunny,” he said.

New road striping also is planned in some locations, Lampe noted, but may not take place until next year.

Those roads planned for striping include 534, 569, 543, 450, 468, Agee Road, 415, 421, 417, 458, 461, 448, 476, 461, 426, 442, Township Line and Oak Grove Road.

Liability is an issue with striping, Lampe and LeGrand said, and is the reason only dashed lines are used.

Also, some roads are not wide enough for striping.

“If a road is less than 18 feet wide, you can’t stripe it, and we do have some of those,” Lampe explained.

Any striping work, Lampe said, will be contracted out because the county does not have the proper machinery.

LeGrand said he’s heard from some residents about their roads, and he promises more will be overlayed in the future.

“We’re going to get to them,” he said. “As long as I’m sitting here, it’s a failure for me if I don’t take care of those roads. I don’t want to be the one that lets them get behind.”

In addition, Lampe said, some new roads, which currently are gravel, could be paved.

“If we can ever get our sales tax up, or maybe if the use tax ever passes, we may be able to,” Lampe said.

That work would most likely focus on roads which alternate between asphalt and gravel.

“We’ve got a bunch of those,” Lampe said.