Osage construction begins again in June

Regular commuters along Osage Street should schedule a detour as Union County Roads prepares for another round of construction. The road, east of Creston, will be reduced to a single lane with a traffic light controlling traffic.

The road work will be similar to the first round of work started during last year’s harvest season, to the chagrin of local farmers hauling their crops. Osage Street is a farm to market road, with trucks passing through to deliver their harvest.

The detour route remains the same as last year. Those looking to access Adams Street can reach it through Commerce Road.

Bunge Location Manager Drey LyBarger spoke to the Union County Board of Supervisors during their public forum Wednesday, hoping for more communication between the county and local businesses on Osage Street. Bunge, formerly known as Viterra, has a location on Osage Street.

“What does our schedule look like for road repairs on Osage?” LyBarger said. “This last fall, doing it in the heart of harvest there caused some issues for our customers, for your guys even safetywise. I mean, there’s people that were going through that stoplight every day. They weren’t waiting. They were just going through. So 80,000 pound trucks, sometimes more, tractors, on a farm to market road. What’s our schedule look like so we can avoid that this year?”

Union County Roads will start their project on Osage following the completion of a project on Hi and Dry Road. About 1,400 feet of Osage Street will be covered.

LyBarger offered to the county the use of Bunge’s notification service, which would notify 600 local farmers on work on Osage when work on the road starts.

In other Union County news...

Roads Superintendent Al Hysell presented quotes for purchasing a compactor for the department. Previously, the roads department had rented a compactor for road work.

The county approved purchasing a used compactor from Murphy Equipment. The compactor was a part of the rental fleet, with the only previous renters being Union County.

“It’s a 2021 model. It was never rented until we rented it last fall,” Hysell said. “So that’s $14,000.”

Union County Engineer Christian Bohmer had his contract renewed for three additional years, and will serve as the county’s engineer until May 2029.