Benton County pushes for more paving

BENTONVILLE -- Benton County officials want to change the county's road network, and their long-range plan is to pave hundreds of miles of dirt roads.

Jeff Clark, the county's public services administrator who oversees the Road Department, told the Budget Committee on Nov. 2 that the county seeks an aggressive paving plan of more than 50 miles next year, matching the 2015 target. The goal is to have about half the paving be new construction over dirt roads, he said.

The county had about 823 miles of dirt roads in 2013 and has paved about 35 miles of new construction roads since then, Clark said. He projected the rate of new paving work over the next 12 years and estimated the county can have about 300 miles of dirt roads paved in that time.

Justice of the Peace Kurt Moore of Siloam Springs said paving county roads has been a long-standing aim of county administrations.

"It's always been something they've tried to attain," Moore said. "Every county judge will say 'We'd like to pave this many miles.' But the desire and the result doesn't always match. This is the first time in a while we've been making any real headway."

County Judge Bob Clinard said the goal is to use Benton County employees to pave the road miles. The county had some of its 2015 paving work done by contractors after wet weather in the spring and early summer delayed county crews.

"That's our primary focus, to do it ourselves," Clinard said. "We can do it for much less money because we have the men, equipment and resources."

Clinard said the Road Department needs some new equipment and personnel, which is being considered as the Budget Committee works on the county's 2016 budget. A new paving machine is a top priority, Clinard said.

"We've got an older machine, and we've had some issues mechanically," he said. "It's had so many hours on it, it's just about worn out."

Clinard also said new personnel will benefit the paving plan, even if they aren't directly assigned to the paving crew. Having a full-time patch crew would allow the Road Department to keep the paving crew intact and working on its primary duties, he said.

"Right now, we pull from other resources to do pothole repairs," he said. "We may have to pull from the road crew if we've got lot of patch work, and you're going to have lots of potholes on gravel and dirt roads. I can assure you that we can keep somebody busy all day, every day, all year."

Justice of the Peace Barry Moehring of Bentonville said the county needs to develop a road plan in conjunction with the cities, school districts and other entities in the county.

"I wouldn't call what we have now a plan as much as it is a road list," Moehring said. "I question whether we're paving the right roads. My concern is that we, as a county, develop the road list in isolation. We tend to judge our plan on how much we pave and not whether we pave the right roads. I've talked to a wide variety of people from the cities, from the school districts, from the fire departments, volunteer and otherwise, and with other people and they tell me they frankly don't know what the county's road plan is. I believe we need to have a much more collaborative approach."

Moehring has filed as a candidate for county judge in the March 1 Republican primary. Clinard is also running in the primary, seeking a fourth term as county judge.

Justice of the Peace Pat Adams of Rogers is chairman of the county's Transportation Department. Adams said it's unlikely the Road Department will get all of the new equipment or personnel being requested, but he thinks the county should be able to reach its 2016 work goals.

"I have a lot of confidence in Jeff Clark and his crews to get done what they say they can do," Adams said. "If they say they can do more, we should. But I don't want to sacrifice our maintenance work."

Metro on 11/09/2015

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