Weather wreaks havoc on county roads

Potholes like this one riddle the roads in rural Vernon County, the product of cold temperatures and precipitation that have struck in the area recently. Township officials throughout the county say repairing these potholes is an expensive proposition, and that snow must melt and roads dry somewhat before effective repairs can be made. --Steve Moyer/Daily Mail

Kyle Forkner, Metz Township board member, said the roads needed to dry out before the work would do any good.

"It'll take some dry weather and some time to get the roads dry enough to do any good," Forkner said. "Right now we put some rock in some of the worst places but we just can't put it all over. The roads will just get bad again. I don't want to do a bad job and have to go back and redo it, I'd rather get it right the first time."

Ammon Hizer, Osage Township board member, said that in addition to bad weather the board had to contend with a tight budget caused by the failure of an effort to extend the road levy, which resulted in a rollback of the tax to the level it was 10 years earlier.

"Another problem we have in Osage Township is when we asked them to approve extending the levy they didn't so we're using a 10-year-old levy," Hizer said. "We tell them we'll do the best we can with what we've got, but it's not much."

Paul Baggett, Deerfield Township board member, said that the township is spending a large part of its budget on the roads now, which might mean the township will be less able to do anything later in the year.

"It's put a big dent in our account for the year," Baggett said. "We've got a lot of ditches we're going to have to do from the flood the last two years, also."

Baggett said the township was hoping the County Aid Road Trust funds would help, when it arrives. Baggett said the amounts varied so he wasn't sure how much it would amount to.

"We hope we get some CART money this year," Baggett said. "We can sure use it."

Frank Radspinner, Badger Township board member, said that the roads were taking a beating from the weather, and the vehicles which use them.

"The ground stays frozen for two weeks and it thaws and the bottom drops out," Radspinner said. "I think 90 percent of it is school buses, they go down the roads twice a day, and you can see the dual tracks from them, that's a lot of it."

One thing everyone agrees on, gravel is expensive. Forkner said that gravel is costing the township $150 a truckload with many truckloads required for even short stretches. Forkner said that each township is made up of approximately 36 square miles but how many miles of road varied in each township.

Forkner said, "It takes five or six loads for every quarter mile, and that's spreading it thin. If we're cleaning out the ditches it takes a lot more than that, 10 or more loads a quarter mile. That adds up quick, $6,000 a mile."

Gravel isn't the only expense, there is fuel and maintenance costs for the road graders.

"All that costs," Forkner said. "We do the best we can but some things we just have to wait on."