News : County Engineer Parizek shares update on Secondary Roads

The Benton County Engineer spoke to the area Kiwanis group about the happenings at the county level in the Secondary Roads Department. Beginning in 1989, Myron Parizek is coming up on his 37th year with the department.  Every snowstorm, windstorm and the nice days are all mixed together in his memories, he said.

He is responsible for every road that does not fall into city limits in the county. In the 80s, roads were identified as Level B roads if they were dirt roads without any houses on them. This designation allows the county to not have to spend money maintaining these roads. Parizek joked that of course, after a good rain, there are some that seek out a dirt road to test four-wheelers, motorcycles and other toys. He said in the 90s the legislature came up with a Level C designation so that these roads could be closed with gates to keep traffic off. The designation could be used if all property owners on the road agreed to this, with the ability of just one to prevent it. Then the state changed it to say, "a majority of property owners."

Then it was changed again to give county supervisors the final say. He said that any changes now have to go to a public hearing to change the status for Level B and C roads. These designations he said do help to reduce costs. He said that in some areas, local property owners monitor the gates and when it's going to rain, they close the gates. Property owners he explained are in tune to when farmers need to access the roads to reach their fields. 

On the topic of rock roads, he said that the rock breaks down, turns to lime and finally into dust. Rock roads, he explained, is a situation of continuing maintenance. There is currently 930+ miles of roads under his supervison. He said at the end of November, crews were treating some of these roads by hauling rock out to tame the mud. 

Presently, there are over 300 bridges on the county roads. The government defines a bridge as a structure that is longer than 20 feet. He said anything that has pipes carrying water under the road, is considered a bridge if it meets the 20 feet. He calls those "box culverts" and he said that we don't have any of those that meet the 20 feet. Anything meeting that number has to be inspected every two years. Problem bridges are inspected annually, and those that have more concerns are inspected every 6 months and those are the ones that are on the list to replace. 

Bridges have to be able to hold 80,000 pounds and if they can't handle it, there will be a weight limit sign added. If there is a load heavier than that, the driver needs to get a permit to cross it. 

The pavement system is a large part of his responsibility as well. He is in charge of resurfacing projects like the area east of the Oak Grove Church to the Linn County line. He explained that the county receives additional road use tax money for these because they are considered "farm to market" systems as part of the IDOT. He said that a portion of the property taxes go toward these road maintenance projects. 

He said that the road budget is around 11 million dollars a year and it continues to grow with the costs for equipment, supplies and projects to maintain the roads. 

The staff in the department is around 32 employees and with that number, they are able to keep one maintainer in each area of the county. Parizek said as part of his winter preparations, he has also been adding wings to the trucks to push snow further into the ditch. He then jinxed talking about how we haven't had a "good old-fashioned Iowa winter." He described that as a winter that begins early and ends at the end of winter. He said in a bad season where the crew is running seven days a week, they might get a "weekend" that starts on a Tuesday if they need some downtime, and the roads are in good condition.  

Kudos to the department and all road-clearing departments in our towns and in the county!