(Audubon) Repairs will be made to Kingbird Avenue in Audubon County at no expense to the county.
Supervisor’s Chairman Doug Sorensen says the damage was brought to their attention last week. “Mitch Rydl, our County Engineer, reported that one road had been torn up on Kingbird Avenue by somebody carrying a load of utility poles. I took some searching to figure out who was doing this. It turned out it was a Mid-American Energy truck that had brought poles down there and torn up this road which actually had been rock, but it was really muddy and they had really torn the heck out of it.”
A utility permit has been granted to Mid-American Energy. “It was not under the jurisdiction of our local Mid-American people. He had to talk to someone in Illinois. Some of their bigger power lines were under a different jurisdiction. They had gone in there without a permit to carry those loads on our county roads. They needed to get this line fixed. They had planned to shut down a section of line for a week so they could get this thing fixed. We went ahead and gave them a permit good for this week to get it done while the ground is frozen. They agreed to fix the road. To pay to re-rock the road.”
In other news regarding the Secondary Roads Department, they are looking into upgrading their snow removal trucks and purchasing a new excavator. All of the trucks are at least 12 years old, but Sorensen says it takes two years to get a new truck and the cost is nearly $250,000. Approval was granted Tuesday to trade in one of their current excavator’s for a new excavator.
