County Board hears Highway Department five-year plan

Almost $24.5 million dollars is scheduled for highway building and reconstruction in Cook County over the next five years. Extending construction over the next 10 years, the best construction estimate tops $30.5 million.

 

These priorities, especially over the next five years, were presented to county commissioners by County Highway Engineer David Betts Tuesday. Betts said the projects he was most confident of would be done in 2011 and 2012, for which the majority of funding and grants are in place with state and federal money.

 

The most immediate construction set for the next two years involves two phases of Devil Track Road work, two bridges, a bike trail project on the Grand Portage Reservation as well as epoxy edge line stripping.

 

Many future construction projects will involve bridge replacements and funding for these projects will be determined by the availability of State Bridge Grants. Betts said he has also scheduled major work on the mid and upper Gunflint Trail slated for 2014 and 2015. Betts said road construction on that scale costs about a million dollars a mile.