Noel Clocksin, Local Government Engineer, 605.773.4256

Lance Birger, County Roads Engineer, 605.773.3476

Ron Bren, Bridge Replacement Engineer, 605.773.5243

Brian Olson, Bridge Replacement Engineer, 605.773.6649

The Local Roads & Bridges Section in Local Government Assistance administers approximately $20 million in road, bridge, and other projects each year for improvements on the county and local highway systems. The counties receive an annual allocation of federal Surface Transportation Program (STP) funds based on highway miles, geographic size, and population. The state also shares the bridge replacement funds 50/50 with the local government entities. In addition, the local governments have an opportunity to exchange their STP funds for state funds on a 90:10 ratio where it is reasonable to build to local rather than federal standards.

On average, there are 30 bridge replacement projects each year in counties, townships, and cities at a cost of about $8 million. Decisions for each structure replacement are based on hydraulic capacity, cost, need, and local preference. Road improvement projects include base & blotter, asphalt concrete surfacing, inplace recycling, grading, gravel surfacing, asphalt surface treatment, and countywide signing with an average yearly cost of $11 million. This section also has a statewide striping program with a budget of $835,000 to provide centerline, edgelines, and railroad crossing markings to all roads in need on the county system.

All projects are initiated at the request of the county commissioners through a resolution and are then placed in the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program. The Local Roads & Bridges Section then provides all administrative assistance needed to take the project up through the bid letting. In the case of the 90:10 funding exchange, administrative help is provided through construction also. All projects are designed using private consulting services and therefore, the assistance includes retainer contracts for survey, design, and inspection. Other assistance includes environmental coordination, materials requests, surfacing recommendations, inspections, coordinating plan reviews with other offices of expertise, right-of-way documents, estimates, project scoping, and technical presentations.

All aspects of the Local Roads & Bridges Section are outlined in the Local Roads Plan. This is an agreement between the local governments and Local Government Assistance that provides design and administrative guidance for all types of road and bridge projects.

Project Schedule