Erie County Engineer's Office
2008 Annual Report
Print this Annual Report. (PDF, 536KB)
Table Of Contents
- Introduction and Summary
- Survey and Field Work
- Tax Map Department
- Bridge Report
- Traffic Studies
- Ditch Maintenance
Introduction and Summary
Dear Citizens of Erie County:
Submitted herein is the Erie County Engineer’s Annual Report for 2008 encompassing county highways, bridges, drainage, ditch maintenance and tax mapping.
We maintained our county highway systems, within budget, in keeping with the demands placed upon them. In 2008, approximately 4.95 miles of our county and township roads were resurfaced, and another 34.6 miles seal coated. Additionally, 217.18 miles of roadway centerline striping was completed throughout the county as we persist in our efforts to have the safest possible roadway systems by clearly marking them. Also, our roads’ rights-of-way were mowed three times during the year to maximize visibility at our intersections and beyond, while minimizing conflicts with wildlife and drifting snow. 39 traffic studies were completed, 3 of which were relative to speed, 35 traffic volume studies, 1 intersection safety study. Other miscellaneous work include repairing approximately 5.5 lane miles of delaminated pavement on Strecker Road by grinding out and wedge coating, cutting and/or repairing 220 lane miles of berm county wide, wedge coating 24 lane miles prior to surface treatment on Berlin Road, Florence-Wakeman Road, Jeffries, Joppa, Patten Tract and Strecker Roads, and repairing spots in the north parking lot at the county engineer’s garage, again!
We continue preparing grant requests and designing and inspecting township road projects. This included, but was not limited to an Issue II funding request for the reconstruction of Reiger Road for Berlin Township, completion of the designs of Florence-Wakeman Road Structure F-403, the Green Road Drainage Improvement project, and preparation of a construction estimate to improve site distance at the intersection of Nash with Burr Road for Florence-Township, completed design of the Fitzgerald Subdivision for a spring bid, and upgraded an inadequate drainage structure H-415 on Fox Road for Huron Township, prepared plans and estimates and applied for Issue II funding for widening and resurfacing of Homegardner Road Phase III Margaretta Township, and additionally completed a ditch survey along Homegardner to help address flooding issues, completed design for installation of (2) solar powered traffic speed signs at EHOVE, installed rumble strips on Kelly Road south of Strecker and resurfacing on Perrin, Warwick and a portion of Seminary Road for Milan Township, completed the design and construction for resurfacing Boardwalk Blvd, Bell Avenue, Michigan Avenue and Peterson Lane, and additionally prepared estimates for Issue II funding to pave London Avenue and Neilson Avenue for Perkins Township, ditch work designed by the county was completed along a portion of Coen Road and assistance was provided for the bidding and construction layout of the Coen Road Roadside Ditch Phase I for Vermilion Township. Chip seal work was completed throughout the county including Berlin, Florence, Groton, Huron, Milan, Oxford and Perkins Townships. Widening, resurfacing and landscaping were completed on the Huron Avery Road project.
Work was finally accepted on Plum Brook Oaks #2 in Huron Township and Sam’s Club “The Crossings” in Perkins Township.
At the end of 2008 there remain 2 other subdivisions in various stages of development and/or construction in Erie County.
Issue II grant application was made for resurfacing various county roads in the amount of $275,000.
This past summer construction and/or rehabilitation work was contracted on bridges B-411 in Berlin Township and V-324 in Vermilion Township.
Our county forces cleaned and applied anti-spall treatment to all our county bridges. Annual bridge inspections were finalized on December 11, 2008 and the final reports prepared and submitted January 21, 2009 to the county commissioners. Additionally, miscellaneous bridge repairs of varying magnitudes were completed on 8 other bridges countywide.
A State Issue 2 grant was applied for by this office to replace structures F-403, Mi-407 and V-323 in the total amount of $400,000.
Other drainage work performed by our forces included replacing various piping and designing of other closed ditch systems:
Installed 100’ of 12” A2000 pipe on Furnace Road in Vermilion Township;
Installed 900’ of 12” A2000 pipe and 5 catch basins on Mason Road in Oxford Township;
Installed 56 lineal feet of 12” diameter RCP and 2 catch basins on Ceylon Road in Berlin Township;
Installed 40 lineal feet of 36” RCP on Stephens Road in Florence Township;
Installation of 54’ of 7’ x 4’ Box Culvert #F-303 on Angling Road in Florence Township;
The Erie County Erosion Control and Stormwater Management Regulations were revised this year to comply with Phase II of EPA’s clean air clean water act.
Under 6137 of the ORC one (1) ditch maintenance project was added to the program this year.
The total number of drainage systems now under ditch maintenance is 122 plus the 3 joint county ditches maintained by Sandusky County bringing the grand total to 125.
We prepared a grant request and as a result are tentatively receiving $399,000 through FEMA for the development of a countywide storm drainage utility to assist in the mitigation of flooding. The county has committed to contribute another $133,000.
Seven (7) commercial site plans and 18 lot splits were reviewed for compliance with our county drainage regulations.
In our tax mapping 2,900 parcel transfers were processed through December 2008, 443 less than calendar year 2007.
The county engineer’s staff and field supervision strive to achieve high, but achievable goals. Although we will be faced with new financial challenges in 2009 due to sinking MVGT revenues we remain focused and committed to maximizing our accomplishments within our available financial resources while serving our citizens professionally and responsibly.
This summarizes the major contributions of the Erie County Engineers to the citizens of Erie County that have been accomplished during 2008.
Survey and Field Work
The work performed by Dave Williams, our surveyor, and his crew, Amanda Buser and Jeremy Blakely encompasses, but is not necessarily limited to the following:
- County and Township Roads, Bridge and Culvert work, Miscellaneous Drainage Projects and Property Locations for Easements.
- Field work including:
- Determination of centerline control (set monument boxes)
- Topography
- Cross Sections
- Drainage
- Determination of centerline control (set monument boxes)
- Construction layout consisting of:
- Slope staking
- Layout of structures
- Setting grades
- Final quantity determinations
- Slope staking
- Collecting survey and field data countywide using GPS instrumentation.
- Surveying County and Township Road Resurfacing Projects and determination of total quantities completed.
- Assisting in Traffic Studies, pavement marking and signage.
- Survey Office Work for the general public which consists of:
- Researching Lot splits
- Verification of closure of all Subdivision Plats and lots
- Research the Right-Of-Way
- Assist the Public as necessary
- Researching Lot splits
- The Survey Department researches records for centerline; records fieldwork notes; and writes all easements for the County Engineer or other County Officials.
Tax Map Department
At the Erie County Tax Map Office, we continue to maintain a dual mapping system. We update both the digital maps as well as the paper maps on a daily basis. This provides the citizens of Erie County the most comprehensive information available for each parcel.
The Erie County Tax Map Office processed 2900 real estate transfers in 2008. Real estate transfers are one of the most important jobs performed in the Tax Map Office, allowing the public to have day-to-day access of property owner information in the county.
Bridge Report
General:
As per various sections of the Ohio Revised Code (O.R.C.), the Erie County Engineer is required to inspect, maintain, and, where determined necessary, replace any highway bridge(s) for which the county is responsible.
Bridge Inspection:
The Erie County Engineer’s Office inspected a total of 130 highway bridge structures in the year 2008. The Federal Bridge Inspection standards and procedures were applied during these inspections, as mandated by federal law.
Additionally included is an outline of those structures currently scheduled for major rehabilitation or replacement between now and the year 2012, and their associated individual budgeted costs.
Bridge Maintenance:
Miscellaneous repair work was performed on eight bridges in the year 2008. Those repairs were addressed and completed in-house, and ranged from simple guardrail replacements to moderate structural concrete repair.
Repairs of similar scope are scheduled to be performed on various county bridge structures during the year 2008 as time, budget, and workforce availabilities permit.
Bridge Replacement:
Two bridges were replaced during the year 2008: B-411 on Chapin Road and V-324 on Darrow Road. The following pages list project data and photographs for these structures.
The following structures are scheduled for replacement in 2009: B-112 on Nash Road, F-403 on Florence-Wakeman Road, H-404 on Perkins Avenue, Ma-205 on Maple Avenue, Ma-507 on Bardshar Road, Mi-407 on Shaw Mill Road, and V-323 on Stanley Road.
Traffic Studies
The Engineer’s Office completed a total of 39 traffic studies.
Of these traffic studies, three were studies to change existing speed limits. Two of these studies were for speed limits on county roads and one for a township road. No speed limits were revised as a result of these studies, with the studies confirming that the existing speed limits were still reasonable based on roadway, traffic, development, and safety characteristics.
The remainder consisted of 35 traffic volume studies and one intersection safety study. Many of these volume studies were to determine traffic volumes for various proposed township and county projects, especially projects with Issue II or CDBG funding. Traffic counts allow appropriate design criteria, such as signal timing, lane and shoulder width, and pavement thickness, to be accurately determined and designed. Additionally, several traffic counts near local road railroad crossings were requested by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to update their Railroad Crossing Database. One safety study was conducted as a result of a fatal crash at the intersection of Strecker Road and Kelley Road in December 2007. This study examined traffic signals and multiway stop conditions and determined that neither was warranted based on traffic and safety criteria.
Ditch Maintenance
This was another productive year for improvements made to the Ditches, Tile systems and Subdivisions under the care of this department. Several linear feet of ditch were either reshaped, realigned, dipped or had debris removed to increase flow and capacity. These ditches include Adams, Boos, Brown-Kuebeler, Charles Smith, Clayton, Delematre, Fichtel, Hoffman, Schnee-Clayton, Star-Heimberger, Steward-Thorne, Stone-Clayton, Taylor, Willard-McConnley and Winkler Ditches. The following areas also had brush, limb or tree removal done on there banks by chainsaw, chopper or mower: Brown-Kuebeler, Charles Smith, Clayton, Dauch, Hermes, Hoffman, Schnee-Clayton, Stone-Clayton, Taylor, Willard-McConnley and Wobser ditches. Subdivisions and tile systems have become a major element of the Ditch Maintenance Department and as such require a watchful eye. Eagle Crest, Sandy Acres and Country Acres Subdivision as well as Croll, Washburn and Country Club tile had repairs completed on their storm systems.
One additional project for maintenance was received in 2008. This department now manages and maintains 125 projects of which includes 3 joint county projects with a base of over $15.33 million dollars.
