An ad hoc committee in Dayton asked County Highway Commissioner Dean Steingraber to estimate costs for two options for rebuilding County Road K.
One option would be to rebuild the existing roadway. County K would be made wider and curb and gutter would be added in the area near the Red Mill,
A second option would be to relocate County K and build a new road connecting County K to State Highway 22.
Currently, County K intersects State 22 at King Road across from the high school. If the second option was implemented, the existing County K from State 22 to Sanders Road would be transferred to the town of Dayton and a new section of County K roadway would be built. The new section would begin at the intersection of Old Highway 22 and State 22, then go south through several farms until it comes to the T-intersection of Rural and Sanders roads. The new County K would continue along Sanders Road, then proceed south on the current County K.
Under the second option, the county would transfer jurisdiction of the old County K section to Dayton.
Dayton residents discussed County K with Steingraber at a public meeting Tuesday, Dec. 20.
“This particular reconstruction or paving project is not even on a five-year plan,” Steingraber said. “You are being very proactive.”
Jane Haasch, a member of the County K committee, said the town wanted the county to have input from Dayton residents prior to spending money on engineering plans on a project.
Several of those attending the meeting raised concerns about increased traffic on County K, a growing number of trucks and the need for pedestrian and bicycle paths. They pointed to problems with speeding and vehicles failing to stop at the County K and Crystal Road intersection. They asked if the truck traffic could be diverted out of the residential areas of Little Hope and Parfreyville.
Others questioned why a new road was even being considered. They noted the impact building a new road would have on taxpayers and wondered whether the county or the town would bear the financial burden.
“The cost of moving Highway K is going to far exceed any other option out there,” said Brian Bartlow, whose family owns land along the possible route of a new County K.
“It sounds to me like somebody is saying it’s OK to put County K into somebody else’s yard,” aid Don Bollerman, who lives on Sanders Road.
Bollerman suggested that most of County K’s traffic problems could be solved by lowering the speed limit and widening the existing road.
Steingraber stressed repeatedly that the county had made no commitments regarding County K.
“I think the road and the corridor that is there right now is safe,” Steingraber said. “But if we rebuild it, we would want to make it safer.”