Benton County Trims 2014 Road Plan

FILE PHOTO SAMANTHA BAKER Benton County’s Road Department crew lays asphalt June 19 on North Tillys Hill Road near Decatur. Justices of the peace recently agreed to cut $450,000 from the department’s 2014 budget for asphalt, dropping it from $2.65 million to $2.2 million. The money saved will be used to pay for part of rural ambulance service
FILE PHOTO SAMANTHA BAKER Benton County’s Road Department crew lays asphalt June 19 on North Tillys Hill Road near Decatur. Justices of the peace recently agreed to cut $450,000 from the department’s 2014 budget for asphalt, dropping it from $2.65 million to $2.2 million. The money saved will be used to pay for part of rural ambulance service

BENTONVILLE -- Recently approved cuts in the Road Department budget will reduce Benton County's 2014 paving plan by about 16 miles, according to Terry Nalley, department head.

Justices of the peace recently agreed to cut $450,000 from the department's 2014 budget for asphalt, dropping it from $2.65 million to $2.2 million. The money saved will be used to pay for part of rural ambulance service. The county has been looking for ways to pay the cities that provide the service the $942,000 they requested for this year after voters rejected a plan to form an emergency medical services district covering most of the unincorporated areas of the county. An $85 annual fee was voted down in February.

At A Glance (w/logo)

Road Cuts

Benton County cut its road paving plan for 2014 from about 38 miles to about 22 miles because of a reduction in the Road Department’s budget for asphalt. These roads have been taken off the plan:

• Cloverdale Road

• Spanker Creek Road

• Mount Olive Road

• Chicken Road

• Sibley Road

• Stateline Road

• Beatty Road

• Stagecoach Road

Source: Benton County Road Department

The cost of asphalt and the different type of paving planned factored into determining which roads would be cut from the plan, Nalley said.

"Asphalt paving costs roughly $75,000 per lane mile," Nalley said. "Chip and seal paving costs on average about $35,000 per lane mile. So to try and reduce our budget by that much money and work the numbers to get as much paving as we can, it's better to adjust out of the chip and seal paving."

While asphalt paving is more costly initially, over time it reduces the county's costs, Nalley said.

"Asphalt paving gives us years of service," he said. "Chip and seal will only give us a year or two."

Most of the projects that were cut -- six of the eight -- are in the northwest section of the county. That section still has several projects planned, and the choice of what to cut was based on need, Nalley said.

"The criteria we use, it's mostly the amount of traffic," he said. "We look at the amount of traffic and then at ones that are starting to show wear and tear."

Steve Curry is justice of the peace for District 11, which includes the northwestern part of the county. He said he's disappointed to see so many projects in his area cut.

"I will be inquiring as to why we got hit," Curry said. "The problem is we've got so many county roads out here it's disproportionate. It seems like the east side gets a lot more done than we do."

Kurt Moore, justice of the peace for District 13, which includes the southwestern part of the county, said cutting the Road Department budget was the only way to find money quickly. He said other departments may see more cuts next year if the Quorum Court is tasked with paying for ambulance service out of the general fund.

"I think this is something we had to do because the budget had already been passed," Moore said. "It's a lot harder to go back and cut things out of the budget once it's done."

County Judge Bob Clinard said the decision on which roads will be paved and which were cut was made by Nalley and the Road Department staff. He denied the choices were politically motivated.

"I have heard a couple of people say that," Clinard said. "We do not make road improvement a political decision. We strictly go by which roads need improvement based on the traffic and the condition of the roads."

Moore said the county is still spending time and resources repairing 2013 storm damage and that made the decision to cut the Road Department's paving plan easier.

"I'd say it's a better than 50-50 chance they're not going to use all of that money anyway," Moore said.

Nalley said that may be true this year, but his department will need the full amount next year and in years to come to improve roads.

"We can get more longevity out of asphalt paving," he said. "We won't have to touch it for five years or more. The $2.6 million is really what we need to do because there's been so much neglect over the years. For us to catch up and get our road system into the 21st Century we need to do more paving and less maintenance."

"To get our road system where it needs to be we need the $2.6 million. Our original budget was for $2.9 million and they cut that in the budget process. So all total they have taken $750,000. I would hope that would be all the Road Department would have to do without or have taken away from us."

NW News on 03/09/2014

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