Road and bridge crew staying busy in 2023

Coryell County's Road and Bridge Department is off to a busy start in 2023, collecting data, improving roads and continuing monitoring on-site sewage permit requests.

Road and bridge Administrator Justin Latham said one of the recent things done by the department has been classifying all culverts that are at least 36 inches in diameter as large drainage structures.

"Those are things we haven't tracked in the past," Lathan said. "They are on our GPS map now," which will also include low-water crossings and bridges.

Along with the locations of the large drainage structures is a rating of the condition they are in along with pictures.

"We are progressing forward," Latham said.

He said a department employee is collecting the information, and that eight large drainage structures were documented just going down two streets. When considering the total number that will be entered into the database, "I'm guessing there will be 300 to 500," Latham said.

Street work

With maintaining and improving roads always one of the department's top priorities, efforts have also been made in that regard.

"We rented a reclaimer, and we are reclaiming a good bit of roads — we are able to cover about a mile and a half a day," Latham said.

Reclaimers are used to pulverize the asphalt layer and mix it with base material to help stabilize deteriorated roads.

Latham said using the reclaimer "saves a good amount of manpower" and also helps to reduce the mess involved in improving the roads.

"We'll rent the machine for another month and probably cover another 20-something miles," Latham said.

Working efficiently has allowed the department to get a head start in preparing for future projects.

"We're actually prepping stuff for next year," Latham said.

Yoder Construction also built one bridge in the county recently, with other work planned.

"We documented how they did it — on Ramsey Road and Old Oglesby toward McGregor," Latham said. "The only negative is that we're waiting on rain (which has caused delays)."

On-site sewage monitoring

Cody Wallace, who also works for the Road and Bridge Department, gave the Coryell County Commissioners Court an update about on-site sewage facilities (septic tanks) across the county.

He noted that in 2022, 207 permits were issued, and the work has already been completed on 193 of those structures.

“We have had a handful of complaint calls but most of those were pretty easy to remedy,” Wallace said.

He added that he and Justin Mannix, another county employee, have earned their site evaluator licenses.

Fees paid for the on-site sewer facilities for 2022 were just short of $97,000, which County Judge Roger Miller said is a big step forward.

“If you go back about three years ago, we weren’t (collecting) half that,” Miller said. “The fees are reasonable for the services provided.”

Wallace noted the permit costs are $350 for standard on-site sewage structures, $450 for aerobic structures and $550 for commercial ones.

“The commercial ones can get complicated,” Miller said.

Wallace said the county is averaging 20-25 permits per month.

“With all those subdivisions coming in, we’ll go well past that,” said Commissioner Keith Taylor, who began his term on Jan. 1.

Latham said the department is hoping to be able to offer more opportunities for the permitting process to be done online.

“They fill out a four-page report” with additional information provided as needed,” Wallace said.

He added that many of those doing the work are based on Copperas Cove or Belton, and they would probably gladly pay an additional fee to be able to have the permits processed and paid for online.

Contract extended

The county also extended its contract with Wright Asphalt Products.

“There’s about a 10% cost increase across the board, which is reasonable,” Latham said.