The Barton County Road and Bridge Department accomplished a lot in 2010, according to a report from Director Dale Phillips.
Included in all of the work on county roads was the unusual accomplishment of discovering the damage to a busy county bridge that could have collapsed without proper repairs.
It was the Road and Bridge crew, when preparing to do paving work on the Radium Road bridge this summer, that discovered that pins had snapped, jeopardizing the safety of the structure.
Later it was determined that the Ellinwood bridge, of similar construction, also needed repairs.
Besides making that important discovery, the department also kept busy maintaining and improving county transportation, Phillips reported.
Accomplishments for the year included:
• The crews installed, replaced or repaired approximately 150 culverts.
• They over laid or strip patched approximately 25 miles of county roads.
• Another 200 miles were Hand or blade patched.
• Crews sand sealed 120 miles of roads, which required 31,230 yards of pumped sand.
• They striped 140 miles of road.
• The department installed 943 new signs and repaired 1,500 signs.
• Provided repairs to 65 bridges, and cleaned out or removed trees from another 100.
• In the county-owned memorial parks, the crews marked 50 plots for burials and headstones.