RICHLAND COUNTY — Richland County expects to spend around $600,000 on asphalt this year to patch and resurface small portions of county roads.
County commissioners on Tuesday approved bids from Sarver Paving in Ashland and Mar-Zane Materials of Mansfield to supply the materials county Engineer Adam Gove needs for his department to handle the repairs.
The funds will pay to purchase around 5,000 tons of 441 asphalt concrete surface and 3,000 tons of 301 asphalt concrete base, according to Gove.
These projects are different from the longer road resurfacing contracts the county may fund during the year through contractors.
In Ohio road construction, engineers use two main asphalt mixes for different pavement layers.
Asphalt concrete surface is the top “wearing” layer. It provides a smooth, durable driving surface with a finer mix designed for ride quality and skid resistance.
Asphalt concrete base serves as the thicker structural foundation underneath. Its coarser mix offers strong load-bearing support and is faster and cheaper to place.
Gove said he anticipates spending around $400,000 on the surface asphalt and $200,000 for the base asphalt product.
Gove recommended commissioners accept bids from both providers that would allow his crews to get material from Sarver when working in the north end of the county and Mar-Zane when working in the south.
“If it makes sense cost-wise, as far as mileage and hours, we would go to the one that made more sense to purchase from for that price,” Gove said.
The county engineer also received approval from commissioners to again sign up for road salt through the State of Ohio contract. Gove said he anticipates purchasing about 3,000 tons of salt at the state-contract pricing, about 500 tons more than last year.
That amount would be in addition to road salt purchased through the county’s own contract, he said.
He said the county purchased about 5,200 tons overall for this past winter.
“I would say we probably have 1,500 tons (left) on hand, maybe a little bit more than that,” Gove said.
He described this past winter as more “average” in terms of snowfall and salt usage.
“We just kind of got accustomed to those very mild winters that we had in a row,” Gove said.
