Warren County panel approves $1.1 million DOT roadway‑departure safety grant and engineering agreement

The Warren County Public Works Committee voted to accept a DOT roadway‑departure safety award of roughly $1.1 million and authorized a state/local master agreement to cover the engineering phase of the project.

Committee member Carl described the DOT program as a statewide study identifying locations with frequent roadway departures — instances where vehicles leave the roadway and crash — and said DOT had set aside nearly $90 million for county projects, with Warren County and neighboring Washington County among successful applicants. The work being scoped includes installing guardrail, placing chevrons and warning signage, and other countermeasures at DOT‑identified trouble spots across the county, including Luzerne, Warrensburg, Chestertown, Thurman, Olmstedville, Pottersville and near Gore Mountain.

A committee member noted that the DOT report documents county roadway deficiencies and that the grant money would be used to remediate those findings. Committee member Mr. Nelson said the local matching requirement for the engineering portion is relatively small — approximately $7,000–$7,800 — and that the county will fund the match from road fund reserves (a D9950 transfer into capital projects), meaning the match is already budgeted.

The action approved by the committee covered three linked steps: executing a state/local master agreement for the engineering work, establishing the capital project, and authorizing a follow‑on consultant contract for detailed design and construction oversight. The transcript does not record a roll‑call tally by name; members indicated support by saying 'Aye' and the chair declared the items approved.

Committee members asked staff to confirm that DOT’s recommendations formed the basis of the grant application; staff confirmed the application and amount were based on DOT’s county study. Planning and GIS staff member Sarah Frankfeld was cited as having prepared a map of the DOT‑identified roads the county will examine.

Next steps are to complete the engineering work under the state/local agreement and return to the committee with project details and any consultant agreements needed for construction. Vote counts and individual vote records were not specified in the transcript.