The McLean County Board met Thursday evening and approved $1.25 million of road work.
$581,000 is for completing the rebuild of County Highway 8 (Lexington East Rd.) where the road has been partially reconstructed by the maintenance crew of the McLean County Highway Department. $293,000 is for a Randolph Township Road Project that will resurface connector roads between U. S. 51 and Old U. S. Route 51. $373,000 will be spent on the county’s micro surfacing project.
Rowe Construction of Bloomington, IL was the low bidder for the Lexington East Rd. project with the bid of $581,000. They outbid H. J. Eppel and Company Incorporated of Pontiac by $78,000.
Cities 92.9 talked with County Board Vice Chair Jim Soeldner who also serves as Chair of the Transportation and Land Use Committee after the meeting and learned that this project is being funded by the Invenergy windfarm in the area.
As part of their land use agreements with the county wind farms agree to repair roads that they damage during construction. Or the windfarm may agree to improve roads before windfarm construction to handle truck loads that will be on the roadways to prevent road damage.
Rowe Construction was also the low bidder on the Randolph Township project with their bid of $293,000. H. J. Eppel was again outbid on this project but this time by only $2,000.
Those familiar with U. S. 51 are likely aware of several small connector roads between the current four lane divided facility and the old two lane facility near Heyworth. These are the Randolph Township roads that will be repaved in this project.
Microsurfacing Contractors, LLC of Bridgeton (St. Louis), MO was the only bidder for the micro surfacing project. Micro surfacing is the application of a relatively thin layer of asphalt materials and additives to an existing roadway surface that can prolong the life of the asphalt pavement.
This project will extend the life of County Highway 25 (Holder Rd.) as well as several other township roads in the county.
