MOUNT VERNON — If the county is successful in finding grant money, Pike Township residents will have 15 pipes and culverts replaced next year.
Amy Schocken of CDC of Ohio told the Knox County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday that she will submit a $241,300 Critical Infrastructure Grant to the Ohio Development Services Agency this week. The 15 sites are on Carson (4), Lower Fredericktown-Amity (3), North Liberty (2), Crooked (2), Frasher (2), Keller (1) and Nunda (1) roads.
Problems with the pipes and culverts include rusting and WPA (Works Progress Administration) bridges being too narrow and obsolete. Six pipes date back to the mid 1930s; two were constructed in the 1960s, six in the 1970s and one in 1986.
“The metal structures are very critical,” said Schocken. “Some of the WPA bridges can maybe last forever, but they are just obsolete.”
Crooked Road is in especially bad shape with a 7,000 ton weight limit, which poses a problem for heavy emergency vehicles. “It’s supposed to be 40 tons,” said Schocken.
“I have a letter from the Clear Fork School District that when some of these roads are closed due to flooding, they have to send notice out to parents and have them meet the bus at the end of the road,” Schocken told the commissioners, adding that support like that enhances the application. “In addition, [County Engineer Cameron Keaton] will put $215,000 in in-kind material and labor. That’s a 49 percent leverage; that’s really good and should help.”
Schocken said the grants are very competitive. In the last round of funding in June, the ODSA received 37 applications; 10 were funded. She said 10 projects will probably receive funding this round also. “They hope to recapture money from other programs that’s not used, and hopefully it will be available in the next round in the spring,” she said.
County seeks grant money for Pike Township pipe replacement
MOUNT VERNON — If the county is successful in finding grant money, Pike Township residents will have 15 pipes and culverts replaced next year.
Amy Schocken of CDC of Ohio told the Knox County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday that she will submit a $241,300 Critical Infrastructure Grant to the Ohio Development Services Agency this week. The 15 sites are on Carson (4), Lower Fredericktown-Amity (3), North Liberty (2), Crooked (2), Frasher (2), Keller (1) and Nunda (1) roads.
Problems with the pipes and culverts include rusting and WPA (Works Progress Administration) bridges being too narrow and obsolete. Six pipes date back to the mid 1930s; two were constructed in the 1960s, six in the 1970s and one in 1986.
“The metal structures are very critical,” said Schocken. “Some of the WPA bridges can maybe last forever, but they are just obsolete.”
Crooked Road is in especially bad shape with a 7,000 ton weight limit, which poses a problem for heavy emergency vehicles. “It’s supposed to be 40 tons,” said Schocken.
“I have a letter from the Clear Fork School District that when some of these roads are closed due to flooding, they have to send notice out to parents and have them meet the bus at the end of the road,” Schocken told the commissioners, adding that support like that enhances the application. “In addition, [County Engineer Cameron Keaton] will put $215,000 in in-kind material and labor. That’s a 49 percent leverage; that’s really good and should help.”
Schocken said the grants are very competitive. In the last round of funding in June, the ODSA received 37 applications; 10 were funded. She said 10 projects will probably receive funding this round also. “They hope to recapture money from other programs that’s not used, and hopefully it will be available in the next round in the spring,” she said.
