By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
In late March, the Barton County Commission approved moving their asphalt preparation to Venture Corporation. A month later, the commission visited Venture’s asphalt plant to get a look at the more cost-effective method of generating the county’s cold mix.
At Tuesday’s meeting, County Works Director Chris Schartz said the process has gone great so far.
"Our crew drives in there, gets loaded and goes on the scale," said Schartz. "At the end of the day, they have printed load tickets for us so we know how much we have loaded and not loaded. It's gone well. They're doing a great job and our guys are doing a great job."
In the past, Venture would have to break down their plant in order to bring the cold mix to the county’s pit. Venture now mixes the asphalt and keeps the material at their plant. The agreement entails Barton County receives 25,000 tons of asphalt from Venture at a cost of $32 per ton.
As of Tuesday, Schartz said the county has already hauled in 3,345 tons of asphalt mix for a four-mile stretch of road surfacing south of Albert. Crews are currently working south of Heizer.
Last year, Barton County started their overlay project June 13. Schartz said with the new agreement with Venture, the county was able to begin May 1 this year.
"Doing it earlier, only helps in our sealing process," said Schartz. "We can seal sooner when it's warmer out, as opposed to it starting to get cooler. The hotter it is, the more that aggregate goes into the oil, which only helps the sealing process. It's definitely an advantage to start earlier."
A quarter of the county’s paved roads are overlaid each year. The southwest quadrant is the focus for repairs in 2025.