County Commission | The Magazine December 2018 | Page 13

FROM THE COVER
Multiplier Effect
INVESTING
$1.00
IN ROADS & BRIDGES
RESULTS IN
$5.20
IN BENEFITS
(e.g., lower vehicle
maintenance costs,
better gas mileage, etc.)
‘Getting by’ with Lower Standards
While stop-gap measures are better than no maintenance at all, they
are another result of inadequate funding for county roads and bridges,
a result that brings further consequences for Alabamians in the form of
lower property values and increased vehicle repairs.
Citizens seem to accept the patching of potholes and cracks, but
others say there’s a better way.
“It’s almost like a surgeon caring for injured patients with nothing
but Band-Aids when you know they really need stitches to correct the
damage,” said Colbert County Engineer John Bedford.
On local roads, an inch or more of plant mix asphalt makes an
excellent surface. Every 15 years, that road should be repaved with the
same high-quality material.
However, counties frequently have to maintain plant mix roads
with a chip seal or similar treatment — basically a half-inch (or less)
layer of liquid asphalt and rock. It’s a strategy that falls short of proper
restoration, but it does prolong the road’s life.
“It’s getting us by until we’re adequately funded, but it is not the
same as properly preserving the value of an asset,” he said.
Source: Federal Highway Administration
Converting
Paved Roads
Back to Gravel
Seventy-five years ago, Alabama’s
progress in the modern world was going
to be measured in miles and miles of
soon-to-be-paved Farm-to-Market Roads.
However, in the new millennium, it
is not uncommon to find county roads
going back to gravel — or “back to the
Stone Age.”
There’s no indication that Alabamians
of today like unpaved roads — dusty one
day and muddy the next — any better than previous generations, but the choice to go
backward is financially driven.
Mary C. Smith Road in Barbour County is a typical example. The hard surface was
steadily disintegrating, and the 3.7-mile route was low on the priority list for repaving.
“The road was originally paved in the ‘70s and got so bad that it had to be turned
back to a gravel road for lack of funding,” said County Engineer Matthew Murphy.
After the conversion, the road’s maintenance has been handled by county crews
with county equipment.
Common Dilemma: Filling
potholes could not halt
disintegration, and there
was no funding to resurface.
Barbour County ultimately
decided to grind up the
remaining pavement and
turn Mary C. Smith Road
back to gravel.
Photo: Barbour County
COUNTY COMMISSION | 13