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FROM PAVED TO GRAVEL? DEAD-END IN SIGHT FOR COUNTY HIGHWAYS
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 -- 1:24 pm
Posted by Riley Hebert-News Director
Clark County may be forced to drop some of its 300 miles of paved county roads if there isn’t a dramatic change in funding over the next few years.
There simply isn’t enough money to continue repairing the system, according to Highway Commissioner Randy Anderson.
The proposed 2012 budget only allots enough money to repave 7.8 miles of the system. At that rate, roads paved next year wouldn’t be paved again until 2052.
"We have a lower levy in the Highway Department in 2012 than we did in 2001," Anderson points out.
The Highway Department’s levy ten years ago was $1.5 million; it’s only $1.3 million this year. Meanwhile, asphalt prices and other expenses have been increasing.
A 40-year paving schedule is "unsustainable," Anderson states.
"There will be more potholes on that road than good pavement," Anderson explains. "There will be wheel-rutting, which will hold in water that will make cars hydroplane."
FEDERAL FUNDING CUTS ON THE HORIZON
But wait… it gets worse.
On top of local levy dollars, the county relies heavily on federal and state funds to maintain roads, but Anderson says there are indications the federal government will change a key formula, drastically cutting Clark County’s payment.
The current formula benefits Clark County's so-called "farm-to-market” roads; the proposed changes would benefit areas with higher use.
"Some of our roads only have a couple hundred cars a day. That's going to be a drastic change," Anderson says.
If the changes are approved through the federal transportation budget, estimates show Clark County would only be able to pave around three miles of road per year.
That would be a 100-year paving cycle.
The result could be less pavement and more gravel in the county’s future.
"If it continues to go as it is...in all likelihood, you'd have to reclassify some of your lower daily traffic (county) roads into more of a local road. I would assume you'd have to turn some of these roads back to gravel."
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