ORD — Valley County has some decisions to make over work on a road between Ord and North Loup.
The planned pavement and realignment project on the 811th Road near Nebraska Distillers Products and the Ethanol Plant requires the railroad crossing to be moved. The cost of this was received a few weeks ago and came out to $75,243.85 for 64 feet of work.
That compares to the original estimate of about $50,000 for 47 feet.
The county surveyor, Olsson Associates, says they made a calculation mistake when they brought the original estimate to Pat Waldmann and the rest of the board.
“I mean, when we do something, we’re liable for it,” he says. “If (Olsson’s) made a mistake, why aren’t (they) liable for it, at least a percentage anyway.”
“If we were back in the bidding process, this would be a totally different thing, but we have guys ready to start work,” Waldmann adds.
Meanwhile, time is running low with dirt work originally scheduled to be completed in May.
A survey last year revealed the 811th Road is off of its intended line and needs to be shifted toward the south. Bids were awarded in November.
Now, there is some consideration to drop the project completely. However, increased truck traffic between the operations in the areas has Boad Chair Bob Sevenker raising safety concerns.
“I think the state really dropped the ball on taking care of that road to begin with,” he says. “I mean; we had one fatality, we had two or three rollovers, and they totally ignored it. Now, they finally went down there and fixed the shoulders to make it halfway safe.”
“I think we have kind of a responsibility where we have an unsafe intersection with all of those semis coming up there. Are we going to wait until somebody gets killed to fix that?” Sevenker asks.
Olsson Associates did indicate they’d be willing to cover about $3,000 of the cost. The plan is to invite all those involved, including the county surveyor and Nebraska Distillers, to meet and try to find a solution.
The cost to Valley County on the project was originally $230,000 with Economic Development chipping in $100,000.
