Officials from Clearwater Township and Silver Creek Township met Tuesday evening at Silver Creek Town Hall to talk about future road projects.
The two townships share a few miles of roads, and over the past year, Clearwater Twp. supervisors have been looking at a long list of potential projects, including town line roads.
Since the two townships would share the cost on town line roads, Clearwater officials needed Silver Creek’s input before setting their road project priorities over the next few years.
Tuesday, the discussion focused on three different areas: 150th Street, Elder Ave. and the Mississippi Oaks development.
Clearwater is already investigating doing a major road reconstruction on 150th Street. But that project will be expensive and take at least a few years to complete.
“It’s going to take two years just to get all the engineering and wetlands issues done,” said Mike Ludenia, a Silver Creek supervisor and Clearwater’s maintenance supervisor. “And there’s a lot of landowners involved.”
Silver Creek Supervisor Chris Klein said their board looked at potentially doing 150th Street a few years ago.
“There was some discussion about doing 150th, but it died because of lack of participation by residents,” he said.
Now, Silver Creek is in the process of doing another big project - Bishop Ave.
“We just finished engineering on Bishop and we’re starting some easement and right of way work,” he said.
That project could move forward this year, or it could be delayed. Klein said that could determine whether there are funds available for other projects.
Clearwater Twp. Supervisor Bill Langenbacher said a smaller project that should be done soon is chip sealcoating on 162nd Street and Eldridge Ave. in the Mississippi Oaks development. The road were recently crack-filled and chip sealing would help preserve the surface.
“If we can swing it dollar-wise, that’s a project we should pursue,” said Langenbacher.
Clearwater Twp. Supervisor Rose Thelen said the township is looking to set up a priority list.
“We’re going to have a process back in the township to decide on these road projects,” she said. “But one of the things we’re in the dark about is the cost.”
Using linear footage numbers provided by Langenbacher, Klein estimated the cost to chip seal Eldridge Ave. and 162nd Street at $19,300, with Clearwater’s share about $12,900 and Silver Creek’s at $6,400.
“Is this something that can be pursued this year or early next year?” asked Langenbacher.
Silver Creek Supervisor Barry Heikkinen said it might be an issue if the township did the Bishop Ave. project and a storage building they were considering.
But Klein said the township could probably come up with $6,400 for its share of the project.
Another potential project would be regrading Elder Ave., the town line road that goes through Hasty.
Silver Creek Maintenance Supervisor Brian Opatz said most of the work could be done using manpower and equipment from the two townships, so the cost to re-grade the road wouldn’t be that big an issue.
Ludenia said there were no wetlands to worry about, but there would be trees to take out, temporary easements to acquire and a few landowners who might object to the project.
Clearwater Twp. supervisor Scott Miller felt if it was mostly in-house work, it should be on the to-do list.
“With the amount of traffic and the input we’ve had from people that use it, it would be a good idea to prepare it,” he said.
That was most of the discussion, and the consensus of supervisors from both townships was to work together on the 162nd Street/Eldridge project and discuss all the projects with residents at their own meetings.
“We’ve got decisions to make,” said Ludenia. “But the key here is to keep talking to each other.”
