BENTONVILLE -- The road department is working on flood control projects stemming from flooding in April 2017, so Benton County Judge Barry Moehring hired an outside firm to do the more mundane work of patching potholes.
The county hired Hutchens Construction from Cassville, Mo., to patch potholes. The company's contract was capped at $50,000, and it ended its work having patched 900 potholes at a cost of $49,500, according to Jay Frasier, the county's public services administrator and head of the road department.
The county also repaired 542 potholes in the first few months of 2018, Frasier said.
Moehring and Frasier said county crews this spring worked on several large hazard mitigation projects stemming from the flooding in April 2017. Three of those projects were on Sugar Creek Road, where Frasier said the county has had chronic flooding problems.
James Nunley has lived on Sugar Creek Road for more than 40 years, on property he inherited from his father. He said residents knew the road would close in any heavy rain.
"If it rains very much, it's going to flood," he said. "Last year, there was a Jeep that tried to get across the bridge and got washed off."
Nunley said he's been able to get out by taking an alternate route when the road closes, but some residents who live between the bridges were stuck unless they could get a neighbor to open gates and let them drive through their property to reach a road. He said another problem on the road was a sharp curve, which was the scene of frequent accidents. He donated some of his property to the county so it could straighten the road.
County roads
Benton County’s Road Department maintains more than 1,700 miles of county roads, with more than 900 miles of county roads being paved. The county is also responsible for 252 bridges, culverts and low-water slabs.
Source: Benton County
Nunley said the rain the county has had recently left him impressed with the work done by the county and cautiously optimistic.
"Everything ran through there like it's supposed to," he said. "We haven't had a 10-inch rain yet, but, with these normal rains, it was real good. So even in a bigger rain it should help."
Frasier said the county has worked on three hazard mitigation sites on Sugar Creek Road, replacing culverts and doing other improvements to bridges and approaches. The work was done under a state program with the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management providing $150,000 in grant money to cover half the cost, and the county providing a match amount in materials and labor.
"We hope to have alleviated the worst of the problems on that road," Frasier said. "We're confident that with an eight-inch rain it will hold with no problems down there. Since the first of the year, we've had a six-inch rain, a five-inch rain and three inches of rain in three hours. So far it has not closed the road down once."
Moehring said the county needed to get the work done by May 15 under the terms of the state grant program. The deadline prompted him to hire a contractor for some of the pothole repair work.
Pat Adams, justice of the peace for District 6 and chairman of the county's Transportation Committee, said he favors contracting out some work.
"Let our people tend to what's really important. There are other things that take precedence over potholes," he said.
NW News on 05/21/2018
