Franklin County rural roads show significant improvement after severe damage last year

This year’s winter thaw brought a new sense of optimism for the Franklin County Secondary Roads Department.

The thaw last year left considerable ruts and damage to rural roads due to the amount of snow and rapidity of the melt. The damage was extensive enough to lead Franklin County officials to enact an embargo on gravel roads and cause the roads department to delay projects in order to reroute resources to repair the gravel roads.

With a milder winter and more of a gradual thaw, Franklin County Engineer Jay Waddingham said roads came out of this year’s winter in far more favorable conditions than last.

“They’re looking a lot better this year,” he said. “Most of the roads seemed to be dried out already.

“We didn’t have that super cold snap where the frost went really deep and ditches froze,” he added. “We had snow cover in the ditches, enough to where it insulated the ditches so they could thaw out and drain.”

After roads dried last year, Waddingham said crews set to filling ruts with rock on farm to market roads and additional roadways in each district, utilizing funds from the local budget and a bond issue as well as a contract with local quarries to obtain supplies for the projects.

“It was pretty rough, but they’re a lot better this year,” he said. “We had to cancel all local construction projects and put it towards rock.”

The cancellation of local bridge and road projects planned last year will carry over through this year, Waddingham said. Due to COVID-19-related closures, Waddingham said the department’s budget has been impacted due to a decrease of Road Use Tax Fund dollars, which makes up approximately 75 percent of the budget.

“People are traveling less, not buying stuff and that will factor into where our money is coming from,” he said, adding that the department still has fund available should emergency projects arise. “We try to be conservative enough to handle emergencies.”

However, Waddingham said despite COVID-19 concerns, crews are still out maintaining roads on a regular basis to allow for a smooth growing season.

“As for the roads, we’re happy with them,” he said. “They’re out there getting them shaped up, hauling rock on them and we’re back to a normal spring process, just in isolation.”