A portion of a county road is being upgraded and paid for by a private citizen. The Washington County Board of Supervisors approved upgrading a quarter-mile of 285th Street from Class B to Class A. John Greiner told the supervisors that he will pay for all of the construction costs and the adjacent property owners have signed a petition in favor of the project.

County Engineer Jacob Thorius said the minimum right of way they use when building a new road is 100 feet. However the supervisors approved a motion for 285th to be upgraded with the current right of way which is about 66-feet. Thorius said it is likely that with this upgrade approved with less right of way required that others in the county will want to do the same, “I know several other people that have asked for years to upgrade roads but they won’t because of the 50-foot. Because we’re allowing this, I will let them know that the board has changed their thinking and their standards, and if they want to go through that process again and come to the board to ask, they can ask and do the same thing.”

The motion was approved with a vote of 3-1 with Supervisor Chairman Bob Yoder the lone nay vote and Supervisor Jack Seward absent.