Road program provides funds for city streets

by Nathan Arneal
Published 12/29/10

North Bend’s street superintendent Troy Johnston of JEO reviewed the road program with North Bend city council members at their Dec. 21 meeting.

The road program was established by the state of Nebraska in 1969 to give cities and counties funds to provide safe and efficient public roads. These funds come from gas taxes and motor vehicle registrations and are used to pay for street maintenance.

In order to receive road program funds, local governments must match 25 percent of the state allocation with local funds. Another requirement of the road program is to employ a licensed street superintendent. JEO Consulting has served as North Bend’s street superintendent since 2004. The road program provides an incentive payment to municipalities that employ a street superintendent which covers most of cost of employing JEO.

Johnston also reviewed the city’s six-year plan for improving its streets. Most of these projects have been listed on the six-year plan for more than a decade, and while the city had no immediate plans to begin any of the projects, they need to be reflected on the six-year plan in order to be undertaken someday.

Most of the projects listed on North Bend’s six-year plan involve paving gravel streets in the far east end of town, including Poplar and Birch streets and portions of 8th, 9th and 10th streets. The six-year plan also includes paving 5th Street (the gravel road between the railroad and the golf course), and repairing a one-block section of 14th street immediately west of Main Street.

The city would likely not undertake any of these projects unless the residents along the street request it. The costs for paving new streets is assessed to the adjacent landowners.

In other council business:
• The Council discussed reports of brown water coming from faucets around town that day. City Clerk Theresa Busse said that PeopleService, who operates North Bend’s water service, said the water is leaving the plant clear and clean. The only solution is to run the water until all the brown water is flushed from the system. Busse said during the warmer months a fire hydrant can be opened to flush the system quickly, but that method is not used in the winter because water would freeze before it could drain away.
Councilman Tom Mullally suggested that a short hose could be attached to the hydrant so water could be emptied straight into a storm sewer. The council decided to look into that possibility.

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