Portions of more than 40 county roads are slated for work this year, funded by $11 million in state and county funds.
At the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors meeting Monday, Road Manager Tyrone Cunningham presented the county’s road plan to address overlaying, resealing, milling and treating about 15 miles across 39 roads this year.
“These supervisors … have really worked hard to try to increase their resources,” Cunningham told The Dispatch. “… (Over) the last couple of years, they’ve been paving more roads than they have in previous years.”
The board also has $3 million on hand from State Aid road funds to repave portions of four roads, including Sessums, Tabernacle, Sanders Mill and West Lindsey Perry roads, County Engineer Zach Foster told The Dispatch.
“I had a list with cost estimates on each one, and then we kind of narrowed it down to fit within the money,” Foster told The Dispatch. “… Some of the supervisors already had a road in mind. … So this (was a) combination of me and the county road manager and the supervisors.”
Along with the budgeted $3 million, the board is planning to borrow an additional $5 million to go towards addressing more paving projects this year that were originally planned for 2027 and 2028, Trip Hairston, board president, told The Dispatch.
“We have an opportunity here to do $11 million worth of paving this summer, which is a unique opportunity that only comes around about once in a supervisor’s term,” Hairston said. “It’s pretty cool.”
Cunningham said the projects in the county-funded road plan span all five districts and include roads that are the most traveled and in the worst conditions.
When developing the new five-year road plan, supervisors presented Cunningham with a “wishlist” of roads they’d like to see addressed over the next five years. About 40-50 of the wishlist projects are in the plan to be addressed after 2026, but those roads may fluctuate based on the conditions of other county roads over that time and changing costs, he said.
While the work will primarily be asphalt overlay, Cunningham said the projects will also include some resealing, milling and treatment work to prepare gravel roads for paving.
Hairston said the cost of repaving roads has become more expensive, which necessitated an increased budget for this year.
He said the road management department has reallocated some of its budget to increase road work funds by $500,000 from last year to help mitigate rising costs.
“We need more tractors on the road … and so instead of purchasing the tractors outright, we leased some to try to get those in there,” Hairston said. “So we made some room in the budget to be able to do that and I think it’s the right move to do.”
Foster said the State Aid projects have already been contracted and are expected to begin when the weather warms up in March. The roads should be repaved before the summer.
Paving on roads on the county-funded plan, Hairston said, should begin this summer when the weather conditions are better for paving. He expects all roads to be complete before the end of the year.
“This is one of the items that we see that is a visible use of your taxes,” Hairston said. “It’s very important that the county residents are getting what they’re paying for, and they’re paying for paved roads, and … we make it a big priority.”
Roads set for repairs
Overlay
Seed Tick Road
N Wolfe Road
Cedar Street
Church Street
Wells Drive
North Church Street
Buck Egger Road
Green Hollow Circle
Shady Vale Lane
Shadow Canyon Cove
Sunny Valley Cove
Television Road
Sunny Lane
Champion Road
Wood Glen Lane
W Thomas Drive
Cedarcrest Drive
Chain Drive
Oswalt Road
Overview Drive
Moore Drive
Lakeover South Entrance
Malone Street
O’Neal Street
Penn Station Road
Robin Circle
Robin Street
Canfield Road
Granderson Drive
Beulah Grove Road
Railroad Street
Breland Overlook
Motley Road
Young Road
Reseal
Porter Road
DBST
Caledonia Park Entrance
Howard Loop
Aileen Drive
Milling
Oakdale Park Roads
Lakeover South Entrance
Robin Circle
Robin Street
Breland Overlook
Overlay (State Aid funded)
Sessums Road
Tabernacle Road
Sanders Mill Road
West Lindsey Perry Road
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