There are approximately 962
square miles in Buffalo
County. Within this area there are 1500 miles of
road: 112.3 miles are County oil or concrete roads. There are 342 bridges over 20 feet in the
County. There are also 242 bridges that
are 20 feet and under which are not considered bridges but are classified as
culverts because of the constricted water flow.
There are 41 full time employees
and during the summer months we employ three to four more people. In addition to the Highway Superintendent,
there are: one assistant Highway Superintendent, two clerical, two foremen, 19
maintainer operators, five heavy equipment operators, one sign man, one welder,
two mechanics, one mechanic assistant and eight truck driver/operators.
We also have a large inventory of
machines and equipment valued at $9,143,598.00. This includes 21 maintainers, one crane, three backhoes, four loaders, 43
pickups and trucks and a considerable number of other pieces of equipment.
We have an excellent
communication system which includes 2-way radios which are used extensively. They save many miles of driving and enable
people to communicate from one corner of the county to the other. They have saved many maintainer men from
having to walk for help after having a flat tire, being stuck in a snowstorm or
any other emergency type situation. Our
foremen also have cellular phones.
We have 2-way radios in all the
maintainers, office, loaders and in a majority of our other equipment. The radios also give us communication with
the Sheriff’s Department an the County
Surveyor. The telephone system gives us easier
communication with the Sheriff’s Department, Surveyor, other County Courthouse
offices and also the City of Kearney
offices by dialing just four digits.
Buffalo County is divided into 26
Townships. We have divided the townships
into Zones 1 through 26. We bid gravel
once a year. The bid period is from
April 1 of one year to March 31 of the following year.
Buffalo County went to the GEO Base Addressing System and signs were installed in 1997. This system makes finding a resident faster in an emergency type situation.