The Ottawa County Road Commission is dedicated to providing roads and bridges that are maintained in a reasonably safe condition for public travel through construction and maintenance activities. 

A surface type policy for the installation of all new driveways or any work on existing driveways within the existing road right-of-way was developed to provide the most efficient and cost-effective process for road improvement projects.

Road improvement projects that occur on roads without an asphalt or concrete curb result in the restoration of the adjacent driveways in order to match the new road elevation.  Therefore, the policy does not permit the placement of a concrete driveway approach for any new or existing driveways being replaced or restored.

Roads that have an asphalt or concrete curb typically do not involve any change in elevation during road improvement projects.  As a result, concrete driveways are permitted on curbed roads because restoration on adjacent driveways is not necessary.

The driveway surface policy was developed based on the following:

• The restoration of concrete driveways with concrete is not very efficient or cost-effective for the Road Commission as compared to asphalt for the following reasons:
  
  • It takes much longer to saw cut, excavate, and remove concrete driveways that need adjusting versus the time it takes to mill an asphalt driveway.
  • In order to maintain access for the property owner, concrete driveways are often required to be poured half width at a time, where asphalt can be placed the full driveway width.
  • Concrete can take up to 28 days to fully cure resulting in project delays, where asphalt can be driven on the same day.
  • In some cases, asphalt driveways can be placed at the same time the contractor is paving the lane of the road.
• Having rigid concrete driveways located in the shoulder of the road can pose safety risks to our maintenance staff and cause equipment damage. Our operators need to grade shoulders in the summer and plow in the winter. Flexible asphalt driveways minimize impacts to both our drivers and equipment.

A Reminder About Driveway Permits

A permit MUST be obtained from the Ottawa County Road Commission in order to construct, reconstruct, relocate, surface, or resurface a driveway or private road approach adjoining a road under the Road Commission’s jurisdiction.

Please visit the residential driveway section of our website, or contact our office at 616-842-5400 and ask to speak to the Special Services Department regarding obtaining a driveway permit. Our team will be happy to assist you in completing this task.

Draft 2020-2024 Strategic Improvement Plan now available to review

The Ottawa County Road Commission recently released its draft 2020-2024 Strategic Improvement Plan for review.

The plan uses road ratings for county roads, and anticipated costs and funding sources to plan improvements, and preventative maintenance on primary and local roads.

A new plan is updated each year by evaluating our resources to best improve and maintain our road system in the coming years.

Part of the SIP process is to gather comment from the general public and local units of government.

Submit your comments on the draft plan to Ottawa County Road Commission Managing Director Brett Laughlin at BALaughlin@ottawacorc.com.

A public hearing on the plan is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 26, at the Road Commission office, 14110 Lakeshore Drive, Grand Haven.

The Ottawa County Road Commission recently published its 2020-45 Long-Range Transportation Plan.

The plan is part of the transportation planning process for the region's Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs).

Ottawa County has great partnerships with the following transportation organizations:

• The Grand Valley Metropolitan Council (GVMC) is the transportation planning organization for Kent and Eastern Ottawa Counties
• The Macatawa Area Coordinating Council (MACC) is the transportation planning organization for the Holland area.
• The West Michigan Shoreline Regional Development Commission (WMSRDC) is the transportation planning organization for the Muskegon and Northern Ottawa Counties.
• The Rural Task Force 8b is comprised of equal representation from the county road commission, the cities and villages, and the rural transit provider for transportation planning of the rural areas of Allegan, Ottawa, and Ionia Counties.

Since the 1962 Federal-aid Highway Act, federal legislation has required metropolitan area transportation plans to be developed through a continuing, cooperative, and comprehensive planning process.

These plans serve to satisfy federal regulations outlined in 23 CFR 450 and ensures that Michigan Department of Transportation, transit agencies, and local transportation agencies are eligible to use federal transportation funds to construct or implement improvements to roadways and transit routes.

This document presents a list of proposed road improvements that can be constructed or implemented over the next 25 years with any available federal funding. Only the roads that are federal-aid eligible are shown. This eligibility is determined by the National Functional Classification (NFC) road designation values. The higher functions emphasize mobility, the lower functions have more property access.

The values from the highest mobility function down to the lowest include:

• Interstate
• Other Freeways
• Other Principal Arterials
• Minor Arterials
• Major Collectors
• Minor Collectors
• Local (Not eligible for federal funding)

Roadways are the most visible and productive component of the county transportation infrastructure and as such, the LRTP sets the framework for continuous, comprehensive, and coordinated transportation planning efforts for the next 25 years.