SHILOH — Richland County commissioners on Thursday awarded a $753,136 contract to a Crestline contractor to widen and improve an 1,800-foot section of Noble Road near the landfill operated by Rumpke.
The work, first discussed two years ago, will be between the older entrance to the landfill and a newer one. It’s a section of road Gove said is traveled by 400 trucks per day to and from the dumping site.
The Noble Road Landfill – which opened in 1997 and Rumpke purchased in 2009 – is about 15 miles north of Mansfield in northern Richland County. It receives approximately 2,500 to 3,000 tons of waste per day, according to the company website.
(Below is a drawing of the planned widening and improvement project on Noble Road near the landfill in northern Richland County.)
Rietschlin Construction, Inc. from Crestline submitted the lowest of three bids for the improvement and widening project, according to county Engineer Adam Gove, who said Shelly & Sands and Driven Excavating also bid on the work.
The engineer’s estimate for the work was $686,146.50. The low bid was 9.1 percent higher than the estimate. The project would need to be rebid under Ohio law, if the lowest bid exceeded 10 percent of the estimate,
The Richland County Solid Waste Authority will contribute $150,000 toward the work. Commissioners had agreed to allocate $260,000 in its share of American Rescue Plan Act Funds. The remainder will be covered through Ohio Public Works Commission grants, Gove said.
Commissioner Darrell Banks, a member of the RCSWA board, said Rumpke paid to have the plans drawn up for the Noble Road improvements.
He said the company also donates $15,000 a year for roadside clean up efforts. Banks also said a portion of fees collected from each car/truck load taken to the landfill is designated for improvement of roads in Butler Township.
“Of course, the customer is paying that,” Banks said.
The current road, which is 17 to 18 feet wide, is chip-sealed over clay and has deteriorated badly because it’s not designed for heavy truck traffic, Gove said in 2021.
The project will widen it to two 12-foot lanes with a cement base and several layers of asphalt, according to the engineer.
Gove said Richland Construction will start the work in the spring of 2024 and complete it by mid summer.
Until the project is done, Gove said will trucks will need to slow down on the road.
“They go pretty slow through there. We do our best to try to fill in those holes that are out there with gravel and limestone. But it’s past the point where we can put any kind of asphalt mix down,” he said.
Board OKs $7,752 for Domestic Relations Court
Also on Tuesday, commissioners voted to spend $7,752 from the county’s capital funds to purchase three laptops and two monitors for Domestic Relations Court.
“The new judge (Beth Owens) came in found a little bit of lack of modernization within the court. You’ve noticed some of our other courts have screens which are very helpful to guests to see when hearing times are and attempt to limit congestion and questions to the office,” Commissioner Tony Vero said.
“I think these are very reasonable requests. We have a new judge who’s trying to continue to modernize the courts as we as a county move forward with just providing the best service possible,” Vero said.