The series is written mainly for the folks who live in the rural areas of our county, but some of the topics will surely be of interest to our ?city slickers,? too, because we all pay the taxes that fund the department?s work.
The Road & Bridge Depart?ment currently has 41 employees with a combined 412 years of experience and service to Marion County.
When it comes to roads and bridges, we live in the fourth largest county in Kansas. Scattered over our 1,008 square miles of beautiful Kansas countryside are about 1,700 miles of dirt and gravel roads, about 250 miles of ?blacktop? roads and more than 300 bridges and thousands of culverts to maintain.
In the weeks ahead, I plan to write about the dedicated employees who grade and maintain the road that runs past your home?a road that at one time or another will be under some form of construction or repair, targeted for snow and ice removal or affected by bridge and culvert maintenance and replacement.
I would welcome any feedback or questions from the public about the topics I address and about the work of this department.
Martin Rhodes is director of public works for Marion County. His office phone is 620-382-3761. His e-mail address is roads@marioncoks.net.
