Pike County Officials Repair Collapsed Road With Their Own Resources Due to Lack of Federal Funding
It’s a problem that many Alabama counties face, a push for better roads and bridges.
Pike County Officials say that each county road is inspected at least once a year by the county engineer or other assistant engineers.
Right officials are repairing a portion of a collapsed county road.
“This type of failure was obviously a surprise to us. We were not aware that there was a severity of this issue,” says Pike County Engineer Russell Oliver.
The road collapsed as a driver was driving over it. Fortunately no one was hurt. But it is leaving county officials footing the bill due to a lack of funding.
“There are certain maintenance responsibilities that we have that have been deferred over the years due to a lack of resource,” says Oliver.
The incident is just one of many reasons why they are calling on legislatures for help.
“We’ve tried for years to unsuccessfully so far, to get the legislature to increase that we have,” says Oliver.
The primary source for county roads and bridges is the state gas tax revenue.
“That revenue has been flat for many years. It was last increased in 1992 so essentially we’re working with 1992 revenues,” says Oliver.
Out of over 400 miles of paved roads officials estimate 190 miles of Pike County roads need resurfacing, which is why they are counting on the legislature.
“It would be up to them to increase the revenue that we have to work on the roads and bridges,” says Oliver.
Oliver tells me he’s is hoping to repair the portion of the collapsed road for less than $15,000.
For more information on the condition of roads throughout Alabama what county engineers are doing to alleviate issues you can visit drivealabama.org.
