City plans major road construction projects

Local road crews expect to replace a half mile stretch of one of Mountain Home's main traffic arteries during a scheduled construction project while the city sets its sites on a separate, long-range street repair plan.

Approved by the city council during a recent meeting, the plan involves extensive repairs to North 10th East Street near Carl Miller Park and East Elementary School.

In addition, the council approved a resolution to set aside initial funds under an agreement with the Idaho Transportation Department. That money will help pay for a separate road construction project involving a half-mile stretch of South 18th East Street.

With work expected to start in July, the North 10th East Street project topped a list of nearly a dozen priority road repair projects previously identified by the public works department. Other roads making this list include North 6th East Street near Elmore Medical Center.

"We obviously have several blocks that we could reconstruct," said Public Works Director Wayne Shepherd in a previous interview with the Mountain Home News.

The city includes $150,000 in its annual budget to complete one of these large-scale road repair projects, Shepherd added.

City engineers originally hoped to repair this stretch of road last year in conjunction with needed repairs to water utilities in this area. However, those plans were changed since extensive construction in this area was expected to interfere with Air Force Appreciation Day events at Carl Miller Park. Instead, the city focused its efforts to repave North 3rd East Street from McMurtrey Road to East 15th North Street.

To make way for the new asphalt surface by the park and school, city workers expect to scrape and grind up two to four inches of the street's existing asphalt to reach the gravel subbase layer. Workers would then reshape the road to remove any low spots and create a 2 percent grade from the road's center line to each curb side. This gradual slope keeps rain and melting snow from accumulating on the street.

"We don't want water standing on our asphalt pavements because that's what contributes to the failure of this asphalt," Shepherd said.

Although the city's road department has sufficient equipment to grind up the road surface on North 10th East Street and reshape and compact this material, it doesn't have a machine to lay the final layer of asphalt. As a result, it must hire a commercial contractor to finish that part of the project. However, it usually takes just a day for these private companies to finish this work, according to Shepherd.

In related news, the city council approved a resolution involving a local and state agreement to set aside $10,000 for the South 18th East reconstruction project. The city hopes to include the project under the state transportation department's six-year road construction plan.

The "down payment" approved by the council represents the city's guarantee to use these state funds specifically for the South 18th Street project if they become available. Under this agreement, the ITD would cover most of the project's $1.3 million price tag.

Pending approval by the state, Shepherd doesn't expect the city to receive these funds for another three to four years.

In addition to the upcoming road construction projects, the city expects to start work next year to upgrade a section of its storm water control system. In a ceremony last week, Idaho Bureau of Homeland Security Director Brig. Gen. Bill Shawver presented the city a $444,448 grant aimed at reducing the risk of flooding along East 8th North Street.

Expected to begin next spring, the project includes laying an underground pipe system to divert storm water runoff from the city's north side from North 6th East to North 14th East streets. The water flows into Bledsoe Pond near the city cemetery.

Currently portions of the city remain at risk from flooding due to inadequate drainage capacity and detention basin storage caused by excessive rain and snowpack runoff. In those instances, city streets can fill with water and back up into people's properties along these street corridors.

While other areas in Mountain Home have flooded in recent years during major rainstorms, the project along East 8th North Street was the one area where both the problem and the city's solution were clearly identified, Shepherd said. The current system, "just moves water from one side of the street to the other," he added.