Lowndes co. supervisors working towards construction road plans

You may want to find a detour to your destination,some county roads are in need of repair.

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)- Rainy days are leaving some roads in Lowndes County in need of repair.

Driving down the street, you may notice pot holes, uneven concrete, and eroded asphalt.

County leaders are trying to smooth the way for residents.

“Maintenance is an ongoing thing, especially when you deal with weather, we are out there and we’re on it,” said Lowndes County Supervisor President, Trip Hairston.

You may want to find a detour to your destination. Some county roads are in need of repair. But, the concern is, can the county afford it?

” Last year we passed a five million dollar plan. We re-surfaced five million dollars worth of road,” said Hairston.

President of Lowndes County Supervisors Trip Hairston said prices for materials were also cheaper then.

” When we did that, we paid $107 a ton for asphalt,” said Hairston.

” Now, in this market it’s $154 dollars per ton,” said District 4 Supervisor, Jeff Smith.

That’s a 40% increase in costs.

” It’s going to affect the amount, what you can get done, and the amount of resources you have available,” said Smith.

Smith said leftover funds were available from the 2021 project. Now the board is determining how many more roads need repair.

” Doing business today is not the same back in December or back in November in 2021. So, to be able to do those roads, the revenue we have left over may not be enough to do what we actually need to do,” said Hairston.

Smith said Old West Point Road is one of the areas that needs attention. If you look closely, you’ll see the asphalt breaking apart, coming up, clay, and gravel has been filled in.

Maintenance crews are keeping an eye on roads that need to be filled in at a moment’s notice.

Supervisors said they are about to enter their busy season.

” Keep in mind, in Lowndes County we pour out about two million dollars worth of asphalt every year on our roads. That’s re-paving roads. Putting in overlay on the roads, some may be DBST which is another material. We do a lot of that over the summer months cause that’s when you have the best weather. The last bid we had for a two million road plan for summer was set at 150 dollars per ton. In that road plan, we planned to pave to 17 miles worth of road with that two million dollars.

With higher prices forcing a tighter budget, Hairston said now that will only cover about 10 miles.

Hairston said the county has paved nearly 9 million dollars worth of roads over the last three years.

Supervisors said there’s no set completion date for any road construction project.