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County roads affected by VDOT cuts
BY JAMES JACENICH • STAFF WRITER
MONTEREY - Verona VDOT residency administrator James White Jr. had bad news for Highland supervisors Tuesday. "We've had significant change in our allocation," he said. "Construction funds are made up of state and federal funds. Sixty percent of our funds are spent on federally reimbursed projects. What's been cut is the state funding portion."
The cut affects the Rural Rustic Roads program, which has been paving dirt roads in the county for a number of years, a stated goal of the board of supervisors. "That's pretty troubling," White continued. "That's the bread and butter of what we do.
"Two projects will get built this year no matter what - Seldom See Road and Possum Trot. One is going to contract. Neither one cost enough to put us in a problem. The problem comes when, what are we going to do next year and the year after? With the General Assembly still doing its stuff, I'm not sure how it is going to affect our allocation, but it is going down."
"That is particularly troubling to us," said supervisor Robin Sullenberger. "Rural Rustic Roads is a very successful program. For a rural county, it is quite a blow."
White tried to be reassuring. "I've made a career of making things happen," he said. He suggested several measures to save on construction costs, such as using stabiliza- tion stone. White introduced Al Scott, contract administrator. "I hand-picked him. He has the ability to make things happen."
White listed the top 10 projects by priority as decided in 2007. The point of the public hearing was for the supervisors to gain citizens' input and determine which projects and priorities needed to be adjusted, modified, or deleted.
The bridges on Route 640 in Blue Grass are the top two priorities, followed by Possum Trot Lane and Seldom Seen Road.
One item, a ford over the river on Route 612, has already been completed, White said.
Another is replacing a box culvert on Big Valley Road. Next is paving of about a mile of Botkin Hollow Road.
South Calfpasture River road paving comes in at No. 8, followed by paving on Route 637.
The 10th and last item on the list is sidewalk repairs and improvements in Monterey.
"That's about it, what we have on plan now. We can entertain requests," said White. "We've got to be able to show we can accomplish what we say we can accomplish."
"People need to understand we already have prioritized projects, and anything they had (to add) may be low on the priority list, and those on the priority list may be affected by budget cuts," said Sullenberger. "They need to understand the chance of getting anything happening right away is not very good."
Nonetheless, he asked for input, just in case. "Don't give up on projects, we will continue to make noise about projects we need - it's a matter of priorities, no problem with adding projects."
Les Kodger asked the board to consider adding Route 631, Rich Hills Road, to the list of those needing paving. He said the mostly dirt road has been partially surfaced with rejected plant mix and widened, and would not take as much money to finish paving as other roads that were already on the list. He said the road was used frequently by residents of Strait Creek as a short cut to Monterey.
Robin Vance, Duane Harkleroad, Raymond Curry and Bob McCray asked that Davis Run Road, Route 615, be paved.
"A lot of people use it for a scenic drive," said Vance. "And there are some nice homes being built back in there."
White said one factor in deciding if a road qualified for the rustic road program was traffic count. If traffic count were 50 or more vehicles a day and basically seven houses were served, then it might qualify.
"Each road in the county needs to be looked at and prioritized," said supervisor Jerry Rexrode at the conclusion of the hearing. "It was our intent to surface treat the roads. It's still our intent. It's unfortunate that money runs out occasionally."
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