Resident wants street paved

The dust and the mud have gotten to be too much for residents along one Green River street and they’re asking the city to pave it.

During the public comment portion of last night’s Green River City Council meeting, Jim Rockhold approached the governing body with a written request to pave East Third North Street. The street is more narrow than other streets in the city, often resembling an alley way than an actual street. Rockhold said he first approached the city in 2011, when he was told the city didn’t have money for a paving project. He continued approaching various city officials and employees until 2013, when the project was placed on a two-year plan, but was pushed back to the city’s five-year plan the following year.

Rockford said the high traffic on the small street has resulted in a lot of dust blowing through the area, while precipitation causes the street to become muddy.

“We would appreciate any help you can give us, we’re tired of dust and mud,” Rockhold said.

City Administrator Reed Clevenger said the city has three options with the street. One option would result in the city tearing up the street to replace the cast iron water line in the street, then pave the street when the waterline replacement was finished. City Utilities Manager Mark Westenskow said the city is approaching a point with its master plan where it can start planning cast iron waterline replacement work, but said East Third North Street won’t have traditional curb, sidewalk and gutter because the width of the street is estimated to be 20 feet at best.

Another option involves using asphalt milling to create a temporary overlay that could last about five years. The problem the city has is there isn’t a budgetary item to mill asphalt for the new budget is passed in June.

Even then, the city would need to wait until colder months to avoid asphalt sticking together after it’s milled.

This would push a potential overlay to spring of next year.

However, the city could purchase milling from local contractors, adding to the small supply the city has on hand to complete the project.

Rust asked the city’s engineering department to look at completing an overlay project for the street by next spring, working toward the possibility of completing it this fall.