County roads 'bombed' with potholes as officials struggle with budget shortfalls, stress

A new figure of speech has appeared in county road discussions in recent months. "Our roads are so full of holes, they look like they've been bombed." That's the long form. The short form is simply "bombed out."

The image arises from a fiscal reality – inadequate funds to fix the roads – and an increasing frustration on the part of commissioners who don't have the money to remedy the problem and "do it right" with paving, while being forced to temporize with a short term solution – patching potholes – that all know merely postpones the problem and ultimately worsens it.

Meanwhile the economy tightens its strangle-hold on the budget by reducing tax revenues, while cost of paving materials continues to rise, nearing a 300-percent increase for tar and gravel over the period 2004 to 2009. District road budgets have risen only about a tenth as much – 30 to 35 percent – over the same period.

Paving almost non-existent this year

Miles of road paved – averaging 10 to 12 miles per year per district – plummeted toward zero this year. District 4's Waymon Pitts said only four miles will be paved in his district this year, compared with 13 miles last year. District 1 Commissioner David Cochran said his paving will drop to zero miles this year from over 10 miles last year.

Cochran said road conditions in his district have deteriorated so rapidly through this wet winter and spring that he's devoting his entire road maintenance budget – exclusive of salaries and benefits – to patching potholes and routine upkeep such as mowing.

"All I know to do under these conditions is to keep patching potholes so people can at least continue to get in and out. I'm even working prisoners filling potholes. I spent over $10,000 just last month – almost $65,000 so far this year – just for plant mix to fill potholes," he said.

That $65,000 would have resurfaced about three miles of road with tar and gravel, according to figures provided by county engineer Richard Spraggins. Cochran's dilemma: if he had used it to resurface roads, many more miles would have gone with potholes unpatched, with the attendant wear and tear on citizens' vehicles.

Although details differ from district to district, Cochran's situation exemplifies a similar state of affairs in the other three districts: not enough money to pave roads so they'll last for several years; barely enough money to keep the potholes filled from one month to the next, with costs closing in even on that front.

What's the solution? Is there a turnaround point in sight?

No relief in sight

"I can't see any light at the end of the tunnel, and I'm worried," Cochran said. "Unless some dramatic improvement happens with the economy, it may be even worse next year. This situation is not going to change until something happens to give us more tax revenues to work with. It does- n't matter if I'm running it, or if somebody else is running it, they're going to be dealt the same hand of cards I'm looking at.

"The fact of the matter is it's gonna take millions – millions – to fix the roads in Blount County the way people want them to be. It doesn't matter who's in office or what system of government they're operating under. A dollar's still a dollar, and when you don't have near enough of them, the roads fall apart. Nothing's going to change about that until the money changes."

Cochran said his major fear is that his district will ran out of road money before the fiscal year's end in September. "If that happens, I may have to lay off somebody. I hate the sound of that word, but I will lay someone off before I'll run out of money to patch potholes. I drive these crappy roads just like everybody else does; I know how bad they are," he said.

Cochran said he has just under $170,000 left in his fiscal year budget to cover all road expenses except salaries and benefits. Such costs include – besides asphalt and gravel – fuel, maintenance, tires, pipe, chert, herbicides, utilities, and payments on equipment, among other items. Last month, those expenditures amounted to over $58,000. At that rate of expenditure, he would exhaust his road budget in three more months – May, June, and July – leaving August and September without funds to spend on roads.

What can be done?

"I've been going to Montgomery and Washington, D.C., talking to these politicians, trying to tell them we've got to have help on our roads. They're either not listening or they don't believe me. I had to tell one of'em to stop interrupting me and listen when we went to Washington this time. I need some help delivering that message. Until the people of Blount County are willing to take matters in their own hands and tell their elected officials to get down here and ride these roads and help us or else, I don't know what will happen.

"If that bunch in Montgomery would get together, they could come in here with a road program to restore our county road infrastructure – a statewide farm-to-market road renovation program – if they would take time out from giving themselves raises. We're not getting our fair share of tax proceeds as it is," he said

Cochran said the same applies to the federal government in Washington, D.C. "It looks like our roads have been bombed. They're falling to pieces. They don't believe us when we tell them what we've got here – or don't care. They're too busy sending money to Iraq and the Sudan to fix roads over there, which have been bombed. We can't get our own government to help us.

"You take care of your own first – but Washington politicians are too busy sending all our tax money overseas to take care of what we need right here in our own country.

"I love Blount County," Cochran said with emotion. "I'll do anything for Blount County, anything. I'll go anywhere I'm asked to go. I'll do anything I'm asked to do – even if it's just to sling a shovel full of plant mix in a pothole. I'll do everything I can, even if it kills me. But I gotta have some help with these politicians."