The summer’s road-paving season has been a smooth ride with additional funding allowing more road repairs than normal.
The renewal of a street-repair levy by Athens voters this year gave the city a fiscal boost in 2012, Athens Councilman Elahu Gosney, D-At Large, said.
“There was a one-year overlap (in the levy) so we had a little extra money to repair the streets,” Gosney said. “It was a few hundred thousand (dollars) more than we typically get.”
The additional funds allowed Athens to pave more roads this summer, but the increased paving caused road work to extend later in the year than is typical.
“We did not have any real hang-ups, but we had a long list of streets to do and some of them are still in progress,”
Gosney said.
Outside of the $2 million street operational budget — which covers the day-to-day operations of Athens Engineering and Public Works Department such as salt trucks, maintenance on traffic signals, guardrails and other expenses — $335,000 was allocated to strictly paving, said Andy Stone, director of Engineering and Public Works.
Some of the streets that have been paved this summer include: Lamar Drive, Grosvenor Drive, University Terrace, Woodward Avenue, N. Schafer Street, Fort Street and Utah Place.
One of the more unorthodox projects the city will be participating in will be collaborating with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to remove a large boulder from a hillside near Fort Street where a similar boulder fell into a car and a house last March.
The boulder set to be removed is similar in size to the estimated 100-ton, 25-foot-diameter one that crushed the car and damaged the house on Fort Street earlier this year, Gosney said.
“The rock that’s there is probably pretty stable, but (the removal) is just a precautionary measure,” Gosney said.
Gosney added the majority of spending will come from ODNR, however, Athens will help by providing resources like workers and equipment.
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