By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Barton County Works Department Director Chris Schartz nearly hit the nail on the head in 2025. The Barton County Road and Bridge Department ordered up to 25,000 tons of asphalt from Venture Corporation, using nearly 24,000 tons for work in the county. Tuesday morning, Schartz again appeared before the Barton County Commission for this year’s contract with Venture.
“In 2025, it was determined the county would move our asphalt production to Venture’s plant, which is southwest of (Great Bend) about a mile,” Schartz said. “Continuing that process for 2026, Venture will mix the asphalt and provide all aggregates needed for that.”
Schartz said allowing Venture to complete the work leads to fresher asphalt and purer ingredients, and saves the county the costs of on-site production, storage, and aging of material. Venture will mix up to 25,000 tons at $33 per ton for a maximum cost of $825,000. But the county is not obligated to use all 25,000 tons.
“Once we get to the stopping point, we keep a little bit left over for the wintertime just in case we have an emergency issue,” said Schartz. “We can shut it down and we’ll be done, so no, we’re not held to the 25,000.”
Road and Bridge seals blacktops in each quadrant of the county once every four years. Staff will select approximately 30 miles of blacktop in that quadrant for overlay work. Road and Bridge does not have its own Facebook page, but Schartz said the department’s page on the bartoncounty.org website will be updated often with where county crews are working later this summer.