Supervisors are mulling over their top priority list of roads to receive maintenance throughout the county.
County Engineer Marty Crowder gave Supervisors three list – State Aid roads, Off System Roads, and Off System Hot Mix roads. The roads on the lists were rated from one to 11 with one being the worst in the county and 11 being on the better end of the county.
Supervisors have $1.3 million allotted from the Office of State Aid to program for roads, the only problem is it’s a $3 million project.
Portions of Fentress-Panhandle Road, near the Winston County line; Weir-McCool Road [more commonly known as Highway 407 or Old Highway 12] and a portion of Weir- Highpoint Road from Gladney Road to Fentress Panhandle Road were at the top of the three lists
Crowder said there is a lot of log truck traffic each of the three roads. The roads are major thoroughways for the county because those who may live in Attala and Winston County may travel “back roads” which is what the three roads are more commonly known as, to get to work, travel to Starkville, and more. There are considered high frequency roads – especially Weir-Highpoint Road. The closure of the Fentress-Panhandle Road Bridge on the northern end of the road, has diverted a lot of traffic to Weir-Highpoint Road over the years and it has caused a lot of wear and tear to the roads.
“The worst part is in a flat [on Weir-Highpoint Road] where John has replaced a culvert. I think it burned at one time,” Crowder said, referring to the wildfire in 2017.
He said Huntsville Road in French Camp, which connects French Camp to Stewart in Montgomery County, needed leveling in some areas as well.
Whites Road in the Millspring Community at the intersection of Whites Road and Pisgah Road was mentioned. Log trucks use the road to access Parkersons Lumber Company at the top of the road where the intersections of Whites Road and Stewart-Weir Road meets.
PCA Road from the intersection of Highway 12 to Southern Timber Products is also another road of concern. Because of the log trucks that travel the road, it has a lot of wear and tear and it’s a county road.
East Hunt Road was also mentioned. Crowder said there is a chip mill, Sturgis Mat Company, on the road, and that caused a lot of wear and tear to the road as well. The road is located just off of Highway 12 and can either loop around to Highway 12, via the northern end of Scott Road or take you into the Town of Sturgis via the southern end of Scott Road and Hunt Road.
The biggest issue, especially with roads in District 4 is the weight of log trucks and loggers not taking the routes they are supposed to take. The legislature raised the weight limit of log trucks from 84 to 88.
“And that puts a lot of strain on us,” Supervisor Chris McIntire said.
Supervisor Rodney Bowman said he’s calculated the cost and some of the worst roads in the district are in districts four and one – Supervisor John Shumaker and Supervisor Joey Stephenson districts.
“If we use it for those roads, I’m okay with that,” he said.
Supervisor Chris McIntire said if they went with the plan as is, they would have to forego any other project for the year. He said Supervisors needed to keep that in mind.
Bowman asked about Quinn Street the street that runs behind the old Tom Glassgow Park. He said before former Supervisor Betty Bruce left office, she was trying to do the road as well. But, with the road being used as an access road for construction on the new Charger Stadium, he didn’t want to do it until hauling was done but he wanted to look into.
“Visitors [for the football games] may use that road to go in and out and we need to look into it. It’s a representation of our county,” Bowman said.
Choctaw County School District Board President Mike Thomas, who was in attendance at the meeting, said that he believes that the heavy hauling on Quinn Road. The road is split between the Town of Ackerman and the county. Bowman said he’d spoken to Mayor Dale Reid and he said Reid told him there were plans to repair Quinn Street.
Crowder said to do it would take $160,000 to repair just a small stretch of the road that the county owns.
Supervisor Greg Fondren said before a decision was made, he wanted to ride the roads in question and a decision would be made at the next meeting.
