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Donald R. Huff,
Chairman
Eugene S. Fleming, Vice Chairman
Jack Demming, Member
Michael A. Roper, Managing Director
Robert M. Tholl, Office Manager |
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State Highways
Otsego County has three State Highways: I-75, M-32 and the Business Loop
on Old 27 plus two rest areas. One rest area is on the northbound lane
just south of Gaylord and the other one is on the southbound lane just
south of Vanderbilt. The State takes care of most signing, paving and
bridge work on these trunklines but has contracted the Otsego County
Road Commission to take care of the maintenance work. Every month we
make up a bill to the State for all labor, equipment and materials used
on the trunklines. It's a system that works well as it saves the State
money as well as provides us with some cash flow.
We have set up a separate crew and a separate foreman for the State
trunklines. There are five drivers and a rest area attendant on the
State crew. Ninety-five percent of the time in the winter the I-75
drivers head North first thing in the morning. We have more drifting
and, in general, more bad roads North of town so they do that first. It
takes seven passes with a plow truck on I-75 to cover the whole road
shoulder to shoulder. When you figure in all of the ramps, crossovers,
and rest areas, we plow around 76 miles of road on I-75 alone. We start
at 6:00 A.M. and by 7:00 A.M. we start getting calls asking if all the
roads are plowed! If you are interested, our trucks get about 4 MPG on
diesel fuel while plowing.
Some times the trucks will follow each other when plowing the trunklines.
If only one truck plows, the traffic will knock snow from the unplowed
areas onto the plowed path and a half hour later it looks like we didn't
even plow. It is better to get it all off the driving lanes at once so
it stays clean. Up to 6,000 ton of salt goes on the trunklines in the
winter at a cost of $34.00 per ton. The State has a "Bare
Pavement" policy on I-75 so we have to keep working on it until it
is "bare". Other work done on the trunklines by us include:
cleaning rest areas, blading shoulders, picking liter, mowing, patching
blacktop, repairing guard rail, hauling trash and repairing right-of-way
fence.
Driveway permits, sign permits, seismic permits, etc. are all handled
through the Transportation Service Center here in Gaylord. We have the
forms and can get it started for you after you fill them out and pay the
proper fee. We don't have anything to do with State moving permits. Most
State permits are done over the telephone and fax machine. The State has
its own weighmasters and they are called the Motor Carrier Division of
the State Police.
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