One of our road improvement projects is the 2 ½ mile stretch from Broadway east on Simpson Lane, Ward Road, and Simpson Road to Coltrane.  I want to provide this update after we just re-established the survey to identify the right of way boundaries and to our surprise we discovered part of the road is in the wrong spot.  Because we just discovered this situation we wanted to reassure our neighbors and local residents, that ended up with survey stakes in their yards, that we have no intent to ever move this road in relation to the surveyed right of way.  Nor should you ever fear that the County would claim additional property not included in the original right of way of this bypass using eminent domain.  That is not the way we do business.

To provide some background, the Simpson Lane and Ward Road bypass is not on statutory county mile lines and the original right of way for this roadway was donated to the County many years ago by the Ward family.  Back then the road started off as just a dirt trail connecting Broadway to Simpson Road in order to avoid that bothersome creek that prevented Simpson Road from connecting directly between Bryant Ave and Broadway.  We can only surmise that the original footprint of the Simpson Lane-Ward Road bypass was never surveyed to sit in the middle of the right of way, and over the years the County just kept improving the existing footprint which is around 24’ too far south on Simpson Lane and 24’ too far west on Ward road.

In order for the County to apply for State or Federal road improvement grants we would need to bring the ditch and drainage system up to ODOT mandated standards, which are substantial and costly.  This right of way issue would prevent the County from using any State or Federal grant funds for that bypass area until the County does one of the following: 1) relocate (move) the road to the center of the right of way; or, 2) acquire and extend the additional right of way to the south and west of the bypass.

Again, we do not ever plan to pursue either of those two options and so we have notified ODOT to modify the current project plan to take the Simpson Lane-Ward Road bypass off the current grant project list.  We will shorten the project plan and will continue the overlay for the remaining 1 1/2 miles of Simpson Road from Ward Road to Coltrane.  We will also resurface the 1 mile bypass dog-leg and will add it to our “Save to Pave” program for 2017  using a county funded paving overlay contract.