Daily Press News Editor
Aging asphalt withers in the early spring sun, cracked and rough like alligator hide. Chip-seal material gives way to potholes and shoulders crumble into ditches mere feet away. All the while, traffic — both heavier and faster than in the past — whips by, dodging the damage and sometimes, other cars.
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“At some point, you have to right-size the system to the moneys you have to maintain (it),” Montrose County Engineer Brian Wilson said. “The only thing we can do right now is decrease the system.”
Wilson oversees the county’s road crews, which now operate with far fewer staff members than a few decades ago and a skimpy budget. His 42 employees — down from approximately 75 in the 1980s —are responsible for maintaining close to 1,400 miles of roads, 269 miles of which are paved.
By contrast, his budget, 69 percent of which comes from unpredictable federal Highway User Tax Fund dollars, only provides enough money to maintain a half-mile a year, in terms of paving and chip-sealing. ( HUTF is money from federal gasoline taxes that is distributed to the state, which in turn disburses funds to Montrose County).
“There really isn’t any real roadwork going on. It’s just pure maintenance. And we’re falling behind every year,” Wilson said.
Falling apart
Montrose County doesn’t have a “dirty dozen” in terms of bad roads — for arterial roads, it’s more like a Frightful 15. Wilson has also highlighted stretches of 25 collector roads as being in need of repair. (See list).
Jeff Jeffries, a 38-year road and bridge employee, knows the problem stretches all too well. Wednesday, he spotlighted a few more rough areas, including a stretch of 61.75 Road that didn’t make Wilson’s list. A portion of the road near Sky Ute Gravel is well-maintained, as a requirement imposed on the gravel company. Beyond that, though, a ribbon of chip-sealed road is showing its age in the form of potholes and washboarding.
“It’s become more or less a truck route. It was never designed for that heavy loading. It’s fallen apart,” Jeffries said.
The sub-base of the road is impacted, not just by more traffic volume, but by the type of traffic, such as construction, gravel and logging trucks — businesses in turn spurred by record growth.
“The more people we get in this valley, that creates a heavier loading,” Jeffries said. “When it was a farming community, there wasn’t that heavy a load.”
The city’s San Juan bypass helps ease traffic headed east, he said, but Chipeta Drive and 61.75 Road, used to access Highway 550, are another story. “We get hit on Chipeta and 61.75. They’re just literally falling apart,” Jeffries said.
The county is now in the position of having to tear up existing chip-seal and older asphalt and reverting some of the roads to gravel. The reality isn’t popular with residents or the county commissioners.
“They continue to fall further behind,” Commissioner Allan Belt said. “That’s obviously due to an ever-increasing load on our roads and inflation. Brian’s department is a fraction the size it was 20 years ago. We do what we can afford.”
That includes identifying roads to convert into gravel and explaining the decision to residents. This isn’t always easy, particularly when motorists can compare local roads to those in Delta County, which are so well-maintained as to constitute a night-and-day difference.
“Delta County has better roads than we do,” Jeffries said. “They’ll drive there on good roads, then hit our roads and think, ‘Wow. What happened?’”
The county met a few weeks ago with residents along the Montrose County side of 54.00 Road to work out a means of retaining its current paved condition.
“We’re going to do what we can and they’re going to do what they can,” Belt said. “It boils down to trying to work out an agreement.”
He conceded this was unfortunate. “In my mind, it’s the worst-case scenario, having to ask citizens to do that.”
“We pulled off,” Wilson said of his department’s plans to make 54.00 Road gravel. “I don’t have a solution. At some point, we need to repair the roads. There just isn’t revenue.”
“That’s what hurts us,” Jeffries said. “Right now, we put out fires. We don’t even have the people to do the maintenance work.”
Safety
Wilson said Hickory, Hillside and Holly roads were among the worst. “They’re extremely rough. On (the three) we have a lot of traffic. The volume, plus the roughness makes it difficult for the motorist to stay in lane, particularly truck traffic.”
Wilson said he was especially concerned about school buses, which have cantilevered frames — essentially, their backs hang out of their rear axles. “When a school bus goes over a bump, it leverages the back seat. You tend to pitch the kids around a little bit,” he said.
With roads constantly pitching left and right, there’s little speed control.
“People tend to be driving the roads faster than they can accommodate the traffic safely. All those problems just really combine to make a tough situation,” Wilson said, adding that another road over Sunset Mesa would help relieve some of the traffic pressure on Chipeta.
There is no road-specific data in terms of accidents in the county. The Colorado State Patrol responds to many of the crashes on county roads, but organizes its data by large quadrants, not individual roads, Cpt. Clark Bates said.
By Montrose County Sheriff Rick Dunlap’s estimation, Chipeta is the worst road in terms of safety. “I know we respond a lot out there. The speed limit picks up. I don’t think people realize those cars are moving as fast as they are. There’s a lot of misjudgment,” he said.
As Jeffries toured several problem roads, most motorists seemed to be minding the speed limit. But there were other difficulties, including narrow roads and almost non-existent shouldering, onto which he sometimes had to veer off. In other tight spots, heavy equipment and trailers practically had to jack knife in order to make a turn, creating a hazard for oncoming traffic.
The intersection of 58.50 and Jasmine roads was so bad that it was rebuilt a few years ago, with asphalt. “That’s just a little, small project, because of safety issues,” Jeffries said.
A matter of money
County officials were frank: Fixing roads will take more money than is currently available.
The county receives approximately $3.5 million in HUTF money. For road and bridge, investment income only generates $40,000 a year; property tax, $52,000 and vehicle registrations, $100,000. The county did receive a Department of Local Affairs grant of $500,000 and there are a few other funding sources (see table).
According to county stats, asphalt costs approximately $137,000 per mile for a 3-inch mat. Chip sealing — an overlay of oil and gravel — costs about $9,000 per mile. Magnesium chloride, for dust mitigation, runs at about $1,570 per mile. Labor and equipment is extra.
Nor is roadwork itself the only factor. Jeffries said at least one of the roads will require a new bridge; others will require the replacement of irrigation pipes that cross them.
Building the roads up to county standards additionally will require Wilson to secure rights-of-way agreements with ditch and property owners.
“Quite frankly right now, in terms of the capital we have, we have enough to keep the people employed and service the roads, nor money to put pavement down,” Commissioner Bill Patterson said. The county’s HUTF allocation has held steady for a decade, he said, while costs have risen steadily.
“We have to find another source of income,” Patterson said, expressing support for a 1-percent sales tax that’s currently being floated for the November ballot. Right now, the county does not collect a sales tax. If such a proposal makes the ballot, the revenue could also be used to fund law enforcement.
Wilson said any revenue would help. “I’m not trying to tell people how to fund it,” he said, but stressed revenue sources couldn’t be things that would sunset after a time. “Maintenance doesn’t ever go away,” he said. “It can’t be something we’re going to turn on and off like a faucet. That funding source has got to be stable.”
Electors’ votes last year to relax revenue caps imposed by the Taxpayers Bill of Rights amendment to allow the county to obtain grant funding. Wilson called that a “blessing,” but said grant funding was not predictable. They’re like occasional dessert, but they’re not my primary course.”
Belt said a sales tax would help road conditions “tremendously,” though the funding priorities of any tax presented to and approved by voters are still being worked out. “Our infrastructure, particularly roads, is not keeping up with the growth,” he said.
Kaitlyn Heichel wrote on Nov 3, 2009 2:01 PM:
Sarah Bond wrote on Jul 13, 2009 5:31 PM: