Gravel-Covered County Roads Suffering During Snow Melt

Country Roads in Des Moines County are in bad shape. Especially right now. County Engineer Brian Carter says that the recent snow melt has seriously affected gravel-covered county roads.

“I don’t think there is a gravel road out there that isn’t soft,” Carter said, “Some are worse than others.”

During a Tuesday morning board of supervisors meeting, long time rural Des Moines County resident Richard Smith asked the council to use some of the anticipated $400,000 in additional road use funds to pave Irish Ridge Road. Smith, who Irish Ridge denizens call “The Mayor”, argued that the road gets a lot of use, and deserves to be near the top of the priority list.

Carter did not disagree. He told KBUR that Irish Ridge is part of the five-year road plan. The county is expected to make progress on that plan, especially with the $0.10 gas tax increase.

“It’s not gonna pave hundreds of miles of road. It’s not going to replace 15 bridges, but it will help us make more headway than we were making. We’ll be able to take better care of the system we have,” Carter told KBUR.

The gas tax increase went into effect on the first of the month.