Owen County sits in the middle of the “Golden Triangle” — a name given to the growing area between Louisville, Lexington and Northern Kentucky. It’s a very inviting peaceful, rural, ridge-top community. Its location and availability of inexpensive, beautiful land has enabled the area to grow to a population of 11,300 as of 2006. The population growth has helped the community, but it has also increased the amount of traffic on county and state roads. In fact, 68 percent of the population commutes out-of-county to work. Because of the road traffic, plans are in the works to improve a major route — Hwy. 22.
Highway 22
The proposed route of Hwy. 22 is to run through the north central portion of Owen County into Grant County. At this point work is taking place around the high school in Owenton, where sidewalks will lead to the high school. There will be three lanes of traffic and room for bikes. This part of the project should be done this summer.
“It’s about an $80 million project total. Once everything’s done it’ll be 22 miles, eight of which are in Owen County,” Judge-Executive Billy O’Banion noted.
The entire project should take about 10 years to complete.
Road Crew Duties and Equipment
To keep up with the current demands of the roads, Owen County employs 13 road department workers, including supervisor Dan Logan.
“Pride is what makes the Owen County Road Department special. It’s not just a job, but rather an opportunity to better the county and see their accomplishments,” Logan said.
The crew not only works on snow/ice removal, mowing, maintenance and other duties, but because the solid waste department is one and the same as the road department, all the employees must contribute to that area as well.
The solid waste section is on the same premises as the county barn, but the areas flow together and represent “county multi-tasking” at its ideal level.
“You can dispose of a kitchen-sized bag for $.50. We know that’s really cheap, but that’s the price we’ve charged and are going to charge,” O’Banion added.
Along with tending to solid waste chores, the road crew utilizes seven trucks, a bush hog mower, sickle side mower, front-end loader, backhoe for culvert work, D7 and D4 bulldozers and an innovative Mack tri-axle dump truck.
“The tri-axle allows a driver to haul in or out twice as much rock, which is more economical. The truck is utilized throughout the paving season and then sold for profit at an auction in the spring,” Logan said.
Even though Logan has been on the job about seven months, he has already made a footprint on the administrative and technological needs of the road supervisor position.
He has created databases that track various projects and inventory. He also makes use of Doppler Radar computer programs, and other software that allows equal paving and road work distribution to the county’s various districts.
O’Banion also has been instrumental in assisting to improve the operations of the department. In the past seven years O’Banion, one of the state’s youngest county judge-executives, has overseen improvements to the county barn and other properties. He helped appropriate funds for a 10,000 square foot building to house trucks and the county’s ambulance.
Together, the crew, Logan and O’Banion have continued to meet the needs of the community.
Training and Safety Circuit Rider Program
To keep up with the latest techniques, safety standards and to improve road worker knowledge, Owen County is involved in training through the UK Safety Circuit Rider Program.
“I have been attending the UK Roads Scholar Program and hope to be able to offer these classes to road crew members in the future,” Logan said.
Owen County also performs in-house training on road safety, reducing accidents, vehicle maintenance, hazard communications and CPR.
Owen County was chosen to participate in Technology Transfer’s Safety Circuit Rider program. As part of the “Low-Cost Safety Improve-ments on Rural Roads” initiative, two signage projects have been completed to help reduce collisions and fatalities.
Challenges
A major challenge for Owen County has been improving the infrastructure.
“Unfortunately, when I took office, we were 10-15 years behind some surrounding counties. We were dealing with road, water, solid waste issues. We’re doing our best to catch up, and we’re getting there,” O’Banion noted.
Budget is also a challenge. The Owen County Road Department budget is right around $1 million annually, so it is difficult to address projects that need to be completed and to order necessary equipment. Planning and foresight are prerequisites for making the most efficient use of personnel and resources. Pavement schedules are researched to maximize productivity as are snow/ice removal routes.
Also the department uses cinders as opposed to salt. That saves them about $39 a ton.
According to the latest census data, Owen County is projected to grow to 15,000 in population by 2015 and to 19,000 by 2030. Long-term plans are being made by the road department to meet that challenge.
Shifting responsibilities between solid waste and the road department presents a unique problem for Owen County too. Currently data is being entered to track the progress of both responsibilities. As more data is entered, it will be easier to determine which areas need certain resources. There are even plans in the works to use GPS technology for mapping and equipment location purposes to save on drive time and fuel costs when cross-county trips are required.
The Future
The future is certainly bright for Owen County and its road department. With leaders like Logan and O’Banion and a hard working crew of men ready to improve the community for the future, the citizens of Owenton and Owen County can look forward to growth, increased safety and improved public services.
The county shows signs of improving every day, and initiatives like placing speed limit signs on all city and county roads, increased cooperation with the city, and those listed in this article are indications.
Owen County is progressive and primed for transportation improvement and growth. It is truly a beacon for the “Golden Triangle” of North Central Kentucky.
Owenton, Small Town, Big Ideas on Public Work
The city of Owenton is a quaint little Kentucky town that takes you back to the good old days. The people are friendly — but maybe more importantly the streets are well maintained.
City Maintenance
“We know streets and sidewalks are part of a person’s first impression. We’re pretty happy with them, but we really want to get them in even a little better shape,” Mayor “Milkweed” Wotier noted.
The City of Owenton has only 10 miles of city streets to maintain so they use the county road department to help them take care of the snow/ice removal, pothole repair and other duties involving transportation that require immediate assistance. But that doesn’t mean the city puts road projects at a low priority.
“Because we have so few miles of streets, we have to fight to have them blacktopped, and we do. We get help from the county and we are always working to improve our city,” the mayor said.
“Working with the county has worked really well. They have the larger machinery and we have a good relationship,” city clerk Freda Prather added.
Projects and Challenges
The city takes special pride in maintaining and improving city sidewalks. They plan to make Owenton even more pedestrian-friendly in the coming years.
But Owenton doesn’t have just roads to worry about — the city has had several problems with water lately. Just this past summer water restrictions had to be levied in Owenton. The mayor is still working to alleviate issues involved with the water situation, but keeps a good outlook for the future and is especially complimentary of his right-hand helper, Freda Prather.
“I couldn’t do it without her. She helps so much with keeping everything in order, even beyond the roads.”
Wotier, who goes by “Milkweed” (a nickname earned by an old CB handle), also works with the state Department of Agriculture to control mosquito populations in the city.
“They’re really good about coming up here. We call, and they are usually here the next day. We also try to educate the community about standing water and other issues to keep mosquitoes under control.”
Training and Facilities
Owenton doesn’t just work to educate its citizens, training is a pivotal part of every new employee’s initiation with the city. New maintenance specialist Craig Howard will be attending the Pesticide Program, training delivered through the Technology Transfer Program.
“We understand how important training is, and we do participate in outside and in-house training,” Prather noted.
The new city hall building doesn’t hurt their productivity either. Their offices as well as the offices of the Owenton Police Department are housed in what used to be a funeral home. They have ample parking and are located close to the courthouse as well as to the road department, so their communication on road, city and county issues are quite effective.
Ready to Move Forward
Wotier and Prather said they are excited about moving the city forward over the next few years. They have more than 50 years of combined experience and want to utilize that experience to improve the city even more.

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