A portion of a road will be upgraded with private dollars in Washington County. In June, the Washington County Board of Supervisors approved with a vote of 3-1 to improve a quarter-mile of 285th Street from Class B to Class A. The request came from John Greiner who has a home on the road. At their recent meeting, the supervisors approved the next step in the process – setting a bid date of September 9th. County Engineer Jacob Thorius explained that while the money is from a resident it’s still the county’s responsibility to maintain the road, “It’s a public road. It’s a public improvement project that”s our responsibility for it in the long run and he’s just paying for it. So [in other words] it’s like getting a grant for the safety project improvements we’ve done on the Riverside Road, grant we’ve gotten for the Premier project. His money is a grant in the grand scheme of things.” The estimate for the work is $55,000. Since the county will be liable, the county selects a contractor as county crews are too busy with other projects to do the work in-house.