Work on Golden Avenue, Pleasant Ridge Road slated for next summer
An asphalt overlay project is planned for summer 2025 on Golden Avenue/X28 (pictured here) from Highway 18 to Farmersburg and Center Street in Farmersburg, as well as Pleasant Ridge Road/B-45 from Monona to just north of Marquette. (Photo by Audrey Posten)
By Audrey Posten
Two northern Clayton County roadways are slated to receive an asphalt overlay in summer 2025. According to Clayton County Engineer Casey Stickfort, the project will include Golden Avenue/X28 from Highway 18 to Farmersburg and Center Street in Farmersburg, as well as Pleasant Ridge Road/B-45 from Monona to the crest of the hill north of Marquette.
Golden Avenue and Pleasant Ridge Road were both paved with concrete in the early 1970s and received an asphalt overlay in 2003.
“It has met its life,” said Stickfort, “but it hasn’t deteriorated to where we need to reconstruct it. We can recycle and preserve the pavement—a pavement restoration.”
In preparation, Stickfort said subdrain tile was installed on Pleasant Ridge Road last year, and similar work is planned along Golden Avenue this fall.
“Subdrain tile helps pull any subsurface moisture that may be under the pavement. Moisture under the pavement can freeze, cause uplift, cause a bump and possibly spill your coffee,” he explained.
In fiscal year 2023, Fayette and Clayton counties, as well as the city of Volga, received a $4 million grant to use soy-based additives in asphalt—$1.9 million of which will be used to fund this project. Another $330,000 grant from the Highway Safety Improvement Project, plus $1.9 million in Farm to Market funds, will be utilized too.
“We do not have a final [cost] estimate for the project as we are still working to complete the plans,” Stickfort said.
The first grant will allow the roadways to be rehabilitated using innovative material sourced from soybean oil instead of petroleum polymers. A summary from U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson’s office announcing the grant award said the soybean based polymer technologies were developed at Iowa State University. The material reduces the costs and environmental impacts associated with roadbuilding, saving nearly 50,000 barrels of oil equivalents for the 24-mile stretch of roadway that will be completed between Clayton and Fayette counties.
“This bolsters our agricultural economy by using a domestic product—soy—while simultaneously reducing dependence on foreign oil,” the summary added.
The method hasn’t yet been used a lot in Iowa, said Stickfort, but soybean oil is touted as a “renewable resource and low carbon construction method” that will help rejuvenate pavement oxidized by UV rays.
“The additives help restore the properties of recycled asphalt (millings). Asphalt, I believe, is the most recycled product in the U.S.,” he stated.
Using soybean oil won’t affect the look of the pavement.
“Mixed with asphalt, you wouldn’t know the additive is in there,” Stickfort quipped.
The county engineer anticipates construction could take up to two months. Work will be done under live traffic, with a pilot car guiding motorists through the construction zone or flaggers or signal lights utilized for some lane closures.
“It’s a good thing there’s Highway 18,” Stickfort said. “It’s a short term loss for a long term gain—a nice, new road.”
And for Pleasant Ridge Road/B-45 travelers who are wondering about the stretch from the top of the hill to the Marquette city limits, Stickfort noted it’s on the county’s five year-plan, programmed for 2027.
