It took a team effort, but the 2015 sand and seal operations were done as of Friday, Barton County Road and Bridge Director Dale Phillips said Monday. 

By Friday, all 85 miles were completed in eastern and northern Barton County. This was in record time, Phillips said.

In three weeks, after all the redone roads are broomed and have all the excess gravel removed, paint striping will begin, including the white edge and yellow middle lines. County crews handle the sealing work, but hire out the painting.

Also in the coming weeks, Road and Bridge will begin asphalt overlays on select roads. 

As for the sand sealing, Phillips said the project cost $975,000. It took 52 semi-truck loads of material and 311,000 gallons of oil. 

But, he said, there is more than the financial cost. To make it happen, he pulled crew members from other departments which were more than cooperative.

Barton County is crisscrossed with 389 miles of paved roads, ranking it fourth among the 105 counties in state in terms of asphalt blacktops. On average, the miles are sand-sealed or overlaid every five years.

Now, “we have to play catch-up,” he said. Because of the road work and the manpower needed to get it done, his department fell a little behind on mowing.