County approves purchase of new motor grader

May 29, 2024

A new motor grader and a high-pressure water machine that will be used to clean road tubes more efficiently were recently purchased for the Jackson County Road and Bridge Department following action taken at recent county commission meetings.

Bids for a new motor grader were submitted to the county earlier this month, and during Monday’s meeting, the commissioners approved the $394,492 bid from Foley Equipment of Topeka for a new Caterpillar 140 motor grader.

Scott Kieffaber, public works director, and Wade Cormier, road superintendent, presented three bids during a recent weekly meeting.

Representatives from Foley Equipment of Topeka and SANY America of Kansas City were also present.

Murphy Tractor of Topeka bid $386,710 for a new John Deere 627 GP motor grader. SANY’s bid totaled $355,000 for a new SMG 200.

The commissioners also recently approved the purchase of a PipeHunter 7724 trailer jet with a 700-gallon water capacity and hydraulic rotating hose reel to clean tubes in the county.

The total cost is $86,193.95 and is being purchased from Key Equipment of Kansas City using American Rescue Plan Act funds.

The commissioners and Kieffaber said the new machine will allow road and bridge crews to clean out tubes in about 35 minutes. Currently, the process requires digging out the tube to unclog it, which takes about four hours and a load of gravel.

Kieffaber said there is also a risk of damaging a tube when it has to be removed to be unclogged. City of Holton crews demonstrated their high-pressure water machine for county employees recently.

For more on this and other stories, please log in to your holtonrecorder.net account and select “June 28, 2023” under “E-Editions.”