At a Thursday, Jan. 20 transportation committee meeting, Platte County Highway Superintendent Mark Mainelli explained why the county is focusing on going from cold to hot mix asphalt.
Jane Cromwell, far left, and Mark Mainelli, far right, at a transportation committee meeting on Thursday. Cromwell is the Platte County Highway Department Administrative Assistant and oversees day-to-day operations for the department. Mainelli is the county’s highway superintendent, a job he performs for a number of counties in Nebraska.
A number of potential and ongoing projects were discussed at the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce Transportation Committee meeting on Thursday, but delays caused by supply chain issues were a common refrain.
City of Columbus Engineer Rick Bogus started his report with the information that the Nebraska Department of Transportation’s 23rd Street reconstruction project has been delayed, again.
“Bidding got bumped — it was March, now it’s April,” Bogus said. “…It went from January to March to April. But they said this is it — that’s what they tell me.”
Right now, Bogus said it seems to be taking time for the Federal Highway Administration to sign off on the project.
“That was the big thing, I guess, because nothing else is really being held up. They have their right-of-way, so that’s not the problem. Plans are being turned around so that’s not a problem,” Bogus said. “…It’s timing. It’s because they’re busy and it’s the time of the year.”
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Bogus also wondered if COVID-19-pandemic supply chain delays may be a contributing factor. He indicated that they have certainly been pushing project prices up.
Dennis Grennan listens to discussion during Thursday’s transportation committee meeting. Grennan said many industries in the area are experiencing the same supply chain delays.
“The numbers have been increasing…on their side, our side — everywhere,” Bogus said.
Platte County Highway Department Administrative Assistant Jane Cromwell and Platte County Highway Superintendent Mark Mainelli were also present at the meeting, and both shared similar observations.
Mainelli told the Telegram that a project may have all the funding in the world, but if materials are not available, there’s simply no way to start work.
“Everybody is having problems with supply and demand,” Cromwell said during the meeting. “We took bids on a new dump truck last week and only got two bids…and the delivery is not until November or December, and some were not guaranteeing what the price was going to be. It’s tough out there right now. Steel prices on culverts have caused us some problems and some delays.”
Dennis Grennan said he heard similar comments at a recent industrial group meeting.
“That was kind of the general theme of what everybody said, was just getting delivery of materials,” Grennan said during Thursday’s transportation committee meeting. “…(One person said) they’ve got a huge backlog — they do a lot of circuitry for vehicles and so forth, but they can’t make them because they can’t get copper, and it’s something like three years out. … It’s going to take a while to get out of this, it sounds like.”
Molly Hunter is a reporter for The Columbus Telegram. Reach her via email at [email protected].
