Edgewood students have headed back to school and the Edgewood Roads Department has had a busy summer.
According to town officials, one of the most important projects completed this summer was the grading of school bus routes while preparing for the East Venus Road paving project.
According to a media alert, Edgewood Roads Department Supervisor Josh Janz and his crew have been working weekends and after-hours to prepare roads for increased traffic during this week’s start to the 2024-2025 school year. Janz said that their next project, the long-awaited paving of 1.2 miles of East Venus Road at Evening Star Loop, will begin the week of Aug. 12. East Venus Road has been staked and is ready for crews to begin dirt work.
The cost of the East Venus Rd. project is $77,500. No major traffic delays are expected on East Venus.
According to the alert, the East Venus paving project is the first project on the list of improvements because “it required less engineering than other roads on the priority list. Paving East Venus will eliminate the need for frequent blading by the town’s Roads crew to fix washboard conditions.”
According to the alert, the project is expected to be completed in six to ten weeks in several phases. Next week, crews will begin dirt work to prepare for the installation of culverts for water management. Next, crews will spread gravel, chipseal paving materials and seal the road once the paving materials have cured.
“I’m so proud of our roads crew,” said Nina McCracken, Edgewood town manager. “They work hard for this community, and I hope that drivers will use caution and be mindful of our workers and equipment during the Venus Road project.”
In 2023, the Town of Edgewood acquired paving equipment “to begin paving roads in-house, rather than contracting out that work at significantly higher cost.”
The six-man Edgewood Roads Department is responsible for maintaining 60 miles of town-owned roads.