Seward County Highway Superintendent Jon Regnier is not opposed to the rains Seward County has enjoyed in recent weeks.
But the slow, gentle rains are hard on county roads already rutted by heavy truck traffic.
Most of the roughly 1,000 miles of Seward County roads are unpaved, gravel thoroughfares.
For the past three years or so, county road crews have seen a big increase in truck traffic as more local farmers load poultry on large trucks bound for Smart Chicken or Lincoln Premium Poultry for processing. Some could be running a dozen truckloads a day for three days at a time, Regnier said.
The heavier traffic on soft or muddy roads can leave large ruts that eventually make it hard for other vehicles to use the same paths.
Right now, the county department has just two gravel trucks running, with a third in for repair and a fourth severely damaged in an accident at Highway 34 and 182nd Road a few weeks ago. They are also trying to hire for two positions, though a former county driver has agreed to work one day a week to help out.
Regnier said it is hard to get the roads back up to drivable conditions, but his crew continues their work.
Seward County Commission Chair Misty Ahmic said the department is in a situation like a greyhound chasing a rabbit.
She noted that Regnier is the third highway superintendent for the county in about two years and “that kind of change, I think, sets you up to fall behind.”
But she said they are working to get into a place where the roads are in better condition.
Regnier said in a normal year, it takes all summer to get gravel on the county’s roads. Each mile of gravel road requires five truck and trailer loads and 110 cubic yards of material, and the time it takes depends on how far they are from the supply point of the materials, the number of trucks available and how badly the road is torn up.
Some farmers are good about alerting the department to heavy traffic times and road conditions, which allows them to monitor road conditions, but he said communication could be improved.
Recently one farmer gave the department a heads up, but did not update them when a different route was implemented.
When a road gets ruts in it, Regnier said the “rock levels fall out of it and the next thing you know you have eight to 10-inch mud ruts cut into the road.”
His crews then have to blade the road and get rock back onto it. Restablishing that rock base needs a bit of time to settle in.
“If we put trucks on it too early, then we tear the road up ourselves and we are not making headway,” Regnier said.
The Seward County Board on June 25 approved bids for white rock for the roads. Regnier said they made arrangements with a couple of rock businesses because they need a lot.
Given their current staffing, Regnier said they are having some of the rock delivered to keep his drivers on the Seward County roads.
“This is all from this spring,” Regnier said, noting that gravel roads withstand pounding thunderstorms better than long, gentle rains.
He said he wants people to let them know about road conditions, so they can check the road out and get it on a list prioritized by the work required.
