Founded July 26, 1788 First Organized Settlement in the

Inside this issue

Budget 2

Road Condition & Projects 3

Bridge Condition & Projects 4

Supplemental Projects 5

What Lies Ahead 6 - 7

Message from the Engineer 8

In accordance with Ohio Revised Code 5543.02, I hereby

submit the annual report of the condition of the roads,

bridges, and culverts on the Washington County Highway

System for 2020.

The Washington County Engineer & Highway Depart-

ment is responsible for maintaining 341 miles of two-lane

county roads and 379 bridges within one of the largest

geographic area counties in Ohio. Maintaining these

County assets to the condition level described herein is a

tribute to the hard work and dedication of our supervisors

and employees.

Founded July 26, 1788

First Organized

Settlement in the

Northwest Territory

Area: 641 square miles

The budget of the Washington County Engineer is made up of two sources of “permanent” revenue, known as MVGT, as well as several variable revenue

sources.

The first “permanent” revenue source is Motor Vehicle Registration Fees, with the County enacting three of the four permissive license fees available by Ohio

Revised Code (ORC).

The second is the state-wide Gasoline Tax, and together these two sources of permanent revenue are

combined into a single revenue item, MVGT.

“Variable” revenue sources include sales, reimbursements, investment income, fines, and other receipts. There are also other forms of revenue that are competitive and often require application and approval, thus varying year to year. These sources are actively pursued and include federal highway money or grants, FEMA disaster reimbursements and State reimbursements, OPWC grants and loans, and

other state and local grants.

While COVID-19 impacted the budget, our office was fortunate that overall impacts were marginal and day

to day operations successfully continued.

The County is still receiving Federal and State FEMA dollars from the disasters in 2018 and 2019. In 2020, this resulted in a large increase in federal grants and

reimbursements within the County’s revenue.

Several projects (OPWC, FEMA and Local) were competitively bid in 2020, yet time constraints did not allow for project completion during 2020. These contracted projects were carried over to 2021 creating

a large encumbrance balance of around $2.5 million.

Permissive Sales Tax

When enacted in 1983, the Engineer's office received 60% of the total sales tax revenue from the County Commissioners. Washington County is unique in that this sales tax is shared for infrastructure improvements. This allocation declined over the years to a point where in 2010 the County Engineer did not

receive an allocation.

In 2012 all parties agreed to a new formula: County Commissioners 74%, Township Trustees 22% (the largest percentage the townships had ever received) and County Engineer 4% of the total

permissive sales tax revenue.

Our office feels it is now time to re-evaluate the nearly decade-old formula to reflect escalating

infrastructure, construction, and maintenance costs.

Budget—Revenue & Expense

Page 2 2020 ANNUAL REPORT

Washington County is unique in that the County Commissioners share the Permissive Sales Tax with the County Engineer and the County’s 22 Townships

for infrastructure improvements.

The County had one of their highest encumbrances in years, over $2.5 million

in awarded projects carried over from 2020, scheduled to be completed in 2021.

Paving In 2020, the County competitively bid asphalt resurfacing and allowed for a 2021 completion, with every project encumbered and carried over. Projects pending completion include: paving of sections of C-9,20,98, & 236 (5.24 miles) for around $510k utilizing MVGT funds; resurfacing with OPWC Round 33 & 34 grant and loan funds with matching MVGT funds for sections of C-9 & C-46 (6.33 miles) totaling around $712k; resurfacing of C-348 (1.31 miles) totaling around 154k; resurfacing for sections of C-9,20, & 333 (6.08 miles) totaling around $773k, with all projects awarded to Shelly & Sands. Additionally C-46 (5.34 miles) will be cold-mix paved with the bid near $620k awarded to The Shelly Company, with cold-mix

providing an alternative to hot mix. In 2020, County crews totaled over $460k in spot patching various County roads.

Chip Seal County Highway employees chip sealed around 25 miles, using around 3,100 tons of stone and 83,200 gallons of asphalt emulsion for a total chip seal price around $330k. The county roads chip sealed were portions of C-2, C-4, C-27, C-60, C-98, C-102, C-236. Chip sealed roads were also

fog sealed with positive results.

Snow & Ice Control The snow and ice control season begins in October 2020 and continues through April 2021. This snow season was not kind to the County with a return to winter not seen in many years. The County typically purchases and applies 1,500 - 2,000 tons of salt per winter, while having a stockpile of 4,000 tons. Stockpiling allows the Highway Department to assist Townships if needed and maintain an emergency reserve. Salt prices climbed once again with the price per ton in 2020 rising to $87.97 compared to $86.97 in 2019. With the return of continuous snow during the snow season, having a stockpile of salt was not only easier on the County budget but also very necessary. County forces applied over 2,200 tons of salt and depleted the salt stockpile reserve in creating winter mix material that is still on hand for use next year. The total cost of snow and ice control

was over $807k, compared with last year’s extremely light winter season total of only $18k.

Culverts County crews replace deteriorated culverts, repair and clean existing culverts and install residential driveway culverts via a permit system. A large portion of the culvert installations last year were on roads scheduled to be paved or chip sealed. County force account work will act as matching

funds for the OPWC paving projects above, leveraging in-house work. The county spent a little over $300k on culverts in 2020.

Landslip Repair The County spent $455,816.80 on 5 sites containing non-FEMA landslips. Landslips are a yearly occurrence in Washington County.


Summary Road Condition as of December 2020

Road Miles by Surface Type as of December 2020

With an unpredictable budget in 2020, the amount of County road mileage being resurfaced was held to a minimum until the effects of COVID-19 on the total budget were clear. Back-to-back FEMA disasters in 2018 & 2019 also required local funds to be provided and then reimbursed by FEMA. To accommodate all of these issues resurfacing contracts were bid later in the third quarter of the year rather than early second quarter, with all resurfacing carried over to be completed in 2021. County forces managed to chip seal around 25 miles of road in 2020, a reduction from

the 34 miles that were originally scheduled at the beginning of the year.

With 331 miles of hard surface roadway, the County budget has historically allowed only $1 million for asphalt resurfacing. Even at this amount, a shortfall still remains. An optimal resurfacing cycle requires $2.5 - $3 million to resurface 33 miles per year, creating a resurfacing cycle of 10-15 years. However, the aforementioned County budget is only able to accommodate 16.5 miles of resurfacing per year, creating a resurfacing cycle of 20 years. The County Engineer’s Office actively pursues lower cost alternatives to hot mix paving, such as chip seal, to bring the paving cycle deficit to a manageable number. For comparison, chip seal is around $14,000 per mile versus around $75,000 per mile per inch of hot mix asphalt. Grant funding is also aggressively pursued as a way to increase the resurfacing budget and allow more miles to be paved. Hopefully, the

additional gas tax revenue will allow the paving budget to increase to $1.5 - $2 million and shorten the paving cycle for County roads.

Road Condition Goal: Maintain the county road system such that 90% are at least fair condition or better. This goal has been met.

CONDITION PCI

RANGE AVERAGE PCI CONDITION

LENGTH (MILES)

PERCENT TOTAL

ACCUMULATING PERCENT

EXCELLENT ≥ 92 97.5 69.7 20% -

VERY GOOD 91-82 89.7 41.7 12% 33%

GOOD 81-68 74.1 117.1 34% 67%

FAIR 67-50 61.0 94.7 28% 95%

POOR 49-31 43.0 17.6 5% 100%

FAILED ≤ 30 0 0.0 0%

SURFACE TYPE AVERAGE PCI CONDITION

LENGTH (MILES)

ASPHALT 69.0 138.82

CHIP SEAL 78.7 191.52

CONCRETE 68.0 1.23

GRAVEL 50.0 9.27

TOTAL LENGTH 340.84

2020 Road Condition & Road Projects


CONDITION DESCRIPTION

BRIDGE GENERAL APPRAISAL

NUMBER OF BRIDGES

PERCENT OF TOTAL

BRIDGES ACCUMULATING

PERCENT

EXCELLENT 9 12 3.2% 3.2%

VERY GOOD 8 49 12.9% 16.1%

GOOD 7 157 41.4% 57.5%

SATISFACTORY 6 99 26.1% 83.6%

FAIR 5 38 10.0% 93.7%

POOR 4 16 4.2% 97.9%

SERIOUS 3 6 1.6% 99.5%

CRITICAL 2 0 0.0% 99.5%

OUT OF SERVICE 1 1 0.3% 99.7%

Failed 0 1 0.3% 100.0%

BRIDGE CONDITION 1 — OUT OF SERVICE

C-333-0095, Newport Township, Hills Covered Bridge Pedestrian Bridge CLOSED in 2016 due to timber member

BRIDGE CONDITION 0 — FAILED

C-804-0366, Barlow Township

Warrior Drive & SR-339 intersection. Closed due to concrete deck deterioration, the concrete deck was removed and replacement is not scheduled

Washington County has the task of maintaining 379 bridges. Currently, Washington County has 25 load-restricted bridges, two of which are

wooden covered bridges that were open to traffic.

Bridge Maintenance & Bridge Replacements The County Bridge Crew provides a variety of yearly maintenance services on County bridges to preserve and extend the useful life, although with COVID restrictions this type of group work had to decrease. Common maintenance includes washing and cleaning every bridge to prolong service life, mowing and clearing of debris, installing dump rock to mitigate stream scour, and many other necessary tasks. In 2020, our forces spent roughly $223k on bridge maintenance and protection. The bridge crew also utilized force account to replace T-32-0055-WF, an existing

steel beam bridge with a four-sided concrete box culvert.

In mid 2020, the replacement of two bridge structures on C-46 and a large culvert replacement project on C-9 were completed for around $153k

by Larry Lang Excavating. T-29-0098 in Warren township had its superstructure replaced by Ohio West Virginia Excavating for around $370k,

with this project funded with 80% federal funds / 20% MVGT funds, with the MVGT funds comprising 15% bridge credits in lieu of tax dollars. The

County contracted with RC Construction to repair scour around the Henry Covered Bridge for around $27k. Consultants from WSP continued to

work on design elements of the upcoming bridge project: C-20-0658 Cornerville Truss Bridge replacement. In early 2021, this project went under

contract with Armstrong Steel Erectors for $1,658,239.92, with the replacement to be completed in 2021.

Bridge Condition Goal: Maintain all County bridges such that 90% are at least a General Appraisal of 5. This goal has been met.

2020 Bridge Condition & Bridge Projects

T-32-0055 Bridge Before T-32-0055 Bridge After


Centerline Striping The County contracted with Duramark to complete a centerline striping project in 2020, and 63.88 miles of roadway was striped for around $57k.

Belpre Trail Project

Washington County partnered with ODOT and the Belpre Area Multi-Use Trail Committee to facilitate the Belpre Township Trail Acquisition project. Palmer Engineering was hired to perform boundary surveys of the existing CSX rail line, develop a property plat and establish property ownership along with various other tasks along the abandoned rail line. The overall estimated cost including property acquisition from CSX was not to exceed $250,000. This project is being paid for with 95% federal funds and 5% local match, with the Belpre Area Multi-Use Trail Committee providing the

County local match of $12,500, with the County facilitating the project. This project is still underway.

2020 Supplemental Projects

FEMA Hazard Mitigation Study—County—City of Marietta—Marietta Country Club

In 2020, the County was approached and requested to partner with the City of Marietta and Marietta Country Club to pursue a FEMA Hazard Miti-gation Grant Program project. The study will seek to determine the cause of recurrent flooding around Morris Run Rd and County House Ln, along St Rt 7 in Marietta City limits and the front nine of the golf course. The watershed encompasses around 940 acres. The application was successful and the County was approved to pursue the estimated $115k project (FEMA grant funds providing 75% project cost, Ohio EMA providing 12.5%, and local match 12.5%). The Marietta Country Club, County Engineer’s Office, and Marietta City all contributed $4,791 as the local match to the

project. The project was contracted with Burgess & Niple and is underway, with completion by year end 2021.

Warren Local Schools Building Project—Mary Avenue Improvements, Warrior Drive Improvements, New T-1520

In partnership with the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and Warren Local Schools the traffic impact of Warren Locals building project was studied during 2019 and modifications to the existing roadways were developed. With utilizing a single campus for all grades and erecting multiple buildings, the impacts to the traveling public required several projects that were eligible for funding through Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC). Mary Avenue (T-1153) was identified as a major access point to the new schools and required extensive base repair in or-der to accommodate the increase in traffic. County forces worked on sub-grade improvements as well as drainage issues, with the entire roadway requiring base improvements. With adequate sub-grade and drainage built, Warren Local School District provided the County with $114k in OFCC funding to be used toward asphalt resurfacing of the project. The asphalt resurfacing project was awarded to Shelly & Sands and completed for around $127k. After completion of the project the township road became a county road, C-810, and increased the County’s road mileage by 0.131 miles. During the initial planning process, it also came to light that Warren Local was providing funds to create a construction entrance from SR-339 and it was decided to maximize this investment and create a new township road. Warren Local and the Lawton Living Trust provided the easements required to establish this new road. ODOT D-10 provided the design and construction of the township road project in conjunction with the state route road improvements. This new township road then complemented multiple ODOT improvements to State Route 339 that included the addition of a left turn lane at the township road. This allowed Warrior Drive,C-804, to restrict left turns at the intersection with State Route 339 and become a one-way road with a right turn only entrance. Finally, with the completion and acceptance of the new township road, 0.120 miles of roadway mileage was returned to the township, resulting in a small net reduction in overall roadway miles for the township to maintain. The Barlow

Township Trustees provided the road name, Walls Way, for T-1520.

My Thanks to ODOT District 10 for all of the assistance on this multi-faceted project, with the district providing leadership and guidance throughout the process, and to Warren Local School administration and Board members for partnering and making these improvements possible.

C-810 Mary Avenue Before and After

C-804 Warrior Drive Intersection


What Lies Ahead: Continuing to Rebuild the County Infrastructure

Road Program

Unknown budget totals due to COVID-19 led the County to bid paving projects later in the year than normal, and the contractor was unable to complete the road resurfacing in 2020, with these projects carried over to 2021. These contracts total 24.3 miles of resurfacing of sections of C-9,20,98, & 236 utilizing MVGT funds and resurfacing with OPWC Round 33 & 34 grant and loan funds with matching MVGT funds for sections of C-9, 46, 348, 20, & 333. Additional resurfacing to be completed include paving of C-3, 30, & 446, totaling another 5.42 miles utilizing OPWC Round

34 grant and loan funds with matching MVGT funds. This brings the planned resurfacing total to almost 30 miles for 2021.

The current budget typically allows for roughly 34.5 miles of roadway to be chip sealed by County forces but this total will be increased in 2021 to over 50 miles to be chip sealed. Weather-related events and unexpected emergencies will dictate the final number of miles, as each road to be chip sealed is first reviewed for drainage concerns and pavement deficiencies. Any road to be resurfaced or chip sealed typically includes replacing

deteriorating culverts, ditching of the entire road, and finally spot patching to restore the rideability of the road, all completed by in-house forces.

Bridge Program

The Hune Covered Bridge is still closed due to a landslip on the township road affecting the stability of the stone pier. Solutions are actively being

pursued for the best way to preserve this historical bridge. The Hills Covered Bridge rehabilitation design is currently underway with construction

expected to begin in 2022. The County was awarded around $568k in federal preservation funds (95% Federal / 5% MVGT) for the estimated

$728k project. C-20-0658 Bridge replacement project is currently under construction with Armstrong Steel Erectors. The estimated completion date

is December 1, 2021. C-102-0359 will be competitively bid for replacement using OPWC Round 34 funding in early 2021. In-house forces or

contract forces will replace T-1454-0072, and T-55-0005 is set to have a major rehabilitation of the super and substructure by in-house forces dur-

ing 2021. Twelve bridges are planned to be waterproofed by in-house forces, as well.

Landslip Repair—2018—2021

Washington County is located on the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau. From the 1977 United States Department of Agriculture Soil Survey, soil was

broken down into four general soil associations: Upshur-Vandalia, Gilpin-Upshur-Vandalia, Upshur-Gilpin-Lowell, and Elba-Belpre. Three of the

four soil types were associated with clayey types of soil. Most importantly, the report makes note that accompanying these soil associations are

the hazards of landslips, surface erosion and slow or very slow permeability in deep soil layers. Embankment failures are a typical yearly

occurrence in Washington County, with the number of embankment failures dependent on weather-related factors.

During the early part of 2018, the incessant rains produced the 2018 FEMA disaster DR-4360. Three years have passed since and many repairs

have been completed by the County and numerous townships, with only a few of the largest landslip sites still requiring repair. Since February

2018, countless hours from County staff have been put into rebuilding the County infrastructure. With the 2018 disaster, County forces knew the

damage would be extensive. According to the OEMA financial report, in 2018 Washington County had 307 project sites in need of repair.

Washington County ranked 3rd in sites needing repair out of 84 counties with FEMA obligating over $15 million countywide for these repairs.

This financial total ranked Washington County 7th. In the 2018 FEMA disaster, there were 3 townships ( Muskingum, Newport, & Wesley) that had

large projects that required design by an engineering consultant specializing in landslip repair. All of the remaining sites were designed by County

Engineer staff.

Out of the 17 townships who reported damages during the FEMA 2018 disaster, 10 of the townships have had their repairs 100% completed. The

townships who have completed all of their repairs have received all of their money back or are in the processing of completing the necessary

paperwork to be reimbursed. The County has two remaining 2018 FEMA projects to be completed. These projects are both under contract. R.C.

Construction holds the contract for the CR 8 & CR 15 rock channel repair at a cost near $189k, expected to be completed by July 1, 2021. Bob

Lane’s Welding holds the contract for CR 3,16, 20,126 landslip repair at a cost of almost $300k. One site on CR 20 is completed and the other six

are due to be completed by July 1, 2021. Upon final closeout of these projects, FEMA and OEMA will have reimbursed the County Engineer’s

Office roughly $2.2 million for the 2018 DR-4360 disaster repairs.

In January 2021, we were able to finally award contracts for the repair of two of the three large slip repair projects. The successful bidders for

these projects were Shelly & Sands (Newport Township, $396k) and Alan Stone Company (Wesley Township, $500k).

The Muskingum Township site is still in the design phase with ADR & Associates, with the hope to bid this out this repair in mid-2021.


In February 2019, the second FEMA disaster hit the County, DR-4424, again caused by unseasonable temperatures and incessant rain. This event

had fewer total sites, but many of the sites are larger in scope and size, which will lead to more costly repairs than the 2018 disaster. In the initial

damage assessment the County had 23 sites and the townships had 37 sites. The County is still waiting on approval from FEMA for four out of the

23 sites and the townships are waiting on approval for two of the 37 sites. Without approval these sites can not utilize FEMA disaster dollars for

repair.

Of these 60 total sites eight required consultant assistance for engineering and design, with seven of the eight sites currently under contract with

consultants and in either various stages of design or awaiting FEMA approval of technical reports, such that design can be completed.

The remaining sites will again be designed by County Engineer staff, with several small sites from the 2019 disaster repaired and the County

reimbursed $146k for completed work.

The past few years have been challenging with back-to-back FEMA disasters due to the number of landslips. However, great progress has been made in restoring the County infrastructure. The repairs completed to date would not be possible without the staff at the Engineer’s Office and partnership with the Township Trustees. Many more sites still require repair, with almost all of the 2019 sites remaining. 2021 will be a very busy

year with the goal to be near the end of disaster repairs by year end.

Once again our office appreciates the cooperation and patience the County residents have provided during this lengthy and tedious process.

FEMA is a process and without assistance, the County infrastructure can not be rebuilt.

What Lies Ahead - Continued

A Few Final Thoughts

In the fall of 2020, Community Development Coordinator Darlene Lukshin, decided that after years of service with OSU Extension, collaborating and partnering with our office and multiple other County departments, all 22 townships, multiple EMS and fire departments, the numerous villages and the two cities in the County, it was time to retire in the spring of 2021. Darlene will be leaving a long standing reputation of hard work, dedication, and devotion to Washington County. Her impact on the County can be seen everywhere, a force always working and supporting the lead County applicant, completing and competing for grants to improve our community. With her vision of economic development she assisted in creating the Washington County Port Authority. With her assistance grants for first responders have been received and lives have been saved, playgrounds have been built for children to enjoy, and walking trails and other outdoor recreation facilities have been built—touching the lives of so many. Of note Darlene played a critical role in obtaining grants for the wonderful playground in Lowell, on Buell’s Island. Throughout her career during times of emergency Darlene stepped forward and has been instrumental in obtaining grant funding so that critical infrastructure can be rebuilt. During the recent FEMA disaster declarations Darlene has donated hours upon hours of her own personal time to ensure the County

and townships received FEMA assistance and critical paperwork was completed on time. Thank You from all of us for all that you have done!

What a wonderful feeling it must be to look back over your life’s work and see the positive impact you have made. If you see Darlene, please wish

her a happy retirement, and thank her for all that she has done!

Washington County Engineer & Highway Department

103 Westview Avenue

Marietta, OH 45750

(740) 376-7430

[email protected]

www.washingtongov.org

HOURS

M-TH 7:00am - 5:30pm

Roger E. Wright, P.E., P.S.

Washington County Engineer

Page 8

Message from the Engineer

2020 ANNUAL REPORT

Across the board, 2020 was a year defined by unforeseen challenges, yet despite the obstacles the staff of the Engineer’s Office and Highway

Department worked hard to honor their duty to the public. We were able to provide snow and ice control, repair roads and bridges, and

continue the arduous task of rebuilding the County’s infrastructure from back-to-back FEMA disasters during difficult circumstances. The staff

was able to pull together and serve the citizens of Washington County well in the midst of complicated COVID protocols and abnormal work

weeks and conditions. My thanks to all staff for a job well done. This has been a year that everyone will remember...a year of collective challenges and changes that we faced together and will continue to

support each other through. My thoughts and prayers go out to all impacted by the coronavirus tragedy, and especially to those who lost loved

ones along the way. It is still a lot to process.

With 2020 finally behind us, I look forward to 2021. As of April, construction season has begun for Washington County, with the much-

anticipated C-20-0658 bridge project underway. Many projects are already under contract with several more planned, making 2021 a very

busy construction year. We look forward to getting back to work in a more normal setting and continuing to improve our County.

Finally, my thanks to the voters of Washington County for the opportunity to serve.

Roger Wright, P.E., P.S. Washington County Engineer

Documents

Founded July 26, 1788 First Organized Settlement in the