Citizens question road work priorities

Earlier this month, Bourbon County Commissioners heard from residents wondering when work would begin on Limestone Road.

On Friday, they heard from residents asking for work on Native Road.

Michelle Parker said some potholes have been outlined with spray paint, so she thought the county was about to begin work.

"I don't know who painted that, but there's about a thousand more that need to be painted around," Michelle Parker said. "If you want, I can go paint them for you."

"We're running behind where we wanted to be, but you're on this list," Commission Chairman Allen Warren said.

"I've been on the list for several years now and I keep getting pushed back on the list, so I'm just wanting to know, are we looking at getting that done this fall or are we looking at again next year?" Parker asked.

Warren said the road is on the county's list for this fall.

"I question if we're going to get there," he said.

"You understand my frustration, because I understand the county has done several roads now and they're probably maxed out on that," Parker said. "But when you see roads being done, say Jayhawk, that really didn't look bad and I understand the road between 54 and Jayhawk needed to be done with that curve, but my road is way worse than Jayhawk. There are several other roads in this county than Jayhawk was, too."

She said she understands Jayhawk Road is highly traveled, but her road also gets a lot of traffic. She said she knows the county has to be aware of the road's condition because county employees also travel the road.

She said after paying $4,000 in property taxes, she believes something should be done.

"I don't mind paying taxes," Parker said. "Actually, this is the first year in a long time you can see something being done, which is encouraging, but at the same time, when I've been on the list for several years now, that's discouraging."

She said she has been "quiet about it" and doesn't want to get loud, but she would like something done, "sooner than later."

In addition to the road condition, Parker said the county has left brush along the road that adds to a safety concern.

A portion of the road will have to be milled in order to create a good base for the asphalt, according to Second District Commissioner Barbara Albright said.

Warren said the city's schedule for hard-surface road work has not been updated yet. As of Friday, crews were finishing work on Yale Road and crews are working on the first two miles south of Bronson, with an additional three miles to go. After that, the crews will begin at Uniontown High School and start working east one mile.

Native Road is scheduled after that, he said.

"It depends on the weather," Albright said.

Parker tried to pin commissioners down on a start date, because she said she assumes they know how much time is needed for each project.

Again, Warren stated the projects are taking longer to complete than originally planned.

"I'll be surprised if we get to your road this fall," Warren said.

He said because he won't be a commissioner in the spring, he is assuming Native Road will be the first on the list in the spring.

"That has been our game plan and has been this year," Warren said. "Hopefully that will be carried forward."

"You will continue to see me," Parker said.

Like Michelle Parker, Jeannie Parker also had promised in June that she would return each month until the road work is done.

Friday, she did return, later in the meeting, and asked how many years a road has to be placed on the top of a list before something is finally done.

Warren repeated what he had said to Michelle Parker.

Darrell Parker asked why Native Road wasn't done before the asphalt equipment was moved from a quarter of a mile away from Native to the Bronson and Yale Road areas.

Warren said the work on Yale Road is the completion of a project that was started two years ago. Darrell Parker asked how long it would have taken to do the work on Native Road while the crew was in the area.

Warren said it would take at least two weeks, but Darrell said it took the crew a week to finish where they were working.

"Your road needs more work than what we did from Millcreek Bridge north," Warren said.

"If it needs more work, but it's not that bad..." Darrell Parker said.

Albright said she thinks she understands what Darrell Parker is saying. By stating the road it in worse shape than another, that means some places in the road need to be milled. However, there are other roads in the county that are in worse condition, Albright said.

"I guess one of my questions is, how do you get on the list first twice, then everybody goes ahead of you?" Darrell Parker asked.

She said she understands, as a city commissioner, the county has a lot going on, but she said she doesn't understand the lack of follow-through.

"If you tell somebody you're going to be first on the list, then you need to follow through on that," Jeannie Parker said.

Albright said the road wouldn't have been pushed back to spring if the projects had gone quicker.

"If we can get to it this year, we will," Warren said.

"We'll check back in 30 days, that's all I can tell you," Jeannie Parker said.