Sometimes, you have to make a mess to make things better.
That’s the plan for road repairs in some parts of Allen County.
Road and bridge director Mark Griffin said his crews have torn up sections of some blacktop roads, including about five miles on West Virginia starting east of U.S. 59, to make repairs he hopes will last for years to come.
For example, crews are replacing culverts on West Virginia Road. But those culverts will need time to settle, so Griffin plans to keep that section as a gravel road for about a year.
“I don’t want to put a chip seal on it until it settles,” he told commissioners.
That plan has created a dilemma for residents who have lived next to a blacktop road for years and now have to deal with a gravel road. The county can spray dust control chemicals on those areas at $2 a foot, as offered to all residents, but should the county pay for part of the cost because of the inconvenience?
Commissioners had mixed feelings. Only a handful of homes are affected.
“We’ve got residents that lived on gravel roads forever and they paid for dust control,” Commissioner Bruce Symes said.
Jerry Daniels said he agreed but “my only concern is some of those roads have been blacktopped for so long and we’ve ground up a portion, which needs to happen.”
He suggested crews could spray water on the roads, maybe three times a week, as a less expensive option until the repairs were completed. He also wanted to make sure the areas had enough signs to alert travelers of potential safety hazards.
Commission Chairman David Lee said water might be a good option but it’s a temporary fix.
In the end, commissioners suggested Griffin consider using the more economical water solution and check with property owners to see if they were willing to pay for dust control.
“Try water for a period of time and talk to the residents,” Lee suggested.
Griffin said he also has placed caution signs with a 15 mph speed limit and asked if he should remove speed limit signs. He said he was seeking guidance now because “this isn’t the only one I’m going to be tearing up.”
Meeting schedule
Commissioners canceled next week’s meeting because two of the commissioners will be absent.
Daniels raised a question if the commission might consider scaling back to twice-monthly meetings rather than weekly. The issue was not discussed at length but could be at a later date.
