Cloud control

~ Currently, Mother Nature provides the only respite from dust for people living along gravel roads in Cape Girardeau County.

A drive along County Road 226 on a hot summer afternoon churns up so much chalky white dust that a driver can taste it.

But there are a few spots in front of residents' homes where the gravel road changes to blacktop, preventing the clouds of dust from following. Those spots are reminders that many years ago, Cape Girardeau County would split the cost of putting a patch over the gravel with homeowners who wanted relief.

The county hasn't provided that service since the early 1990s, although road crews continue to maintain that spotty dust control where it exists.

"It is not the perfect idea, but it does help," Wib Welker said as he worked Friday in the yard of his father's home at 1798 County Road 226. Welker was preparing to drive a tractor out onto the road for work in a nearby field.

When the patch was put down, Welker said, the family split the cost with the county for several years based on the number of feet of roadway to be covered. A new coat of asphalt on a small section of the hard surface shows that county crews were there recently for maintenance.

The dust control program was abandoned in favor of paving entire sections of county roads. County voters will decided Aug. 8 if they want to pay a half-cent sales tax to accelerate those paving efforts.

Proposition 1 would enact a permanent sales tax to replace property taxes that support road and bridge maintenance. The tax, expected to generate $5.9 million the first year, would result in about $3.1 million in new county revenue. The new money would be split between the road program and an expanded sheriff's department.

When first proposed, commissioners focused purely on increasing the number of miles of road that would get a blacktop surface. In response to public pressure, however, they have since promised to consider a dust control program similar to what was done in the past if the tax is approved.

The decision on exactly what the dust control program would require will be the responsibility of the newly created County Road and Bridge Advisory Board. The commission is now taking applications for spots on the 11-member board.

While he likes the dust control patch at his father's home, Welker said he's not sure he favors an all-out effort to pave county roads. County Road 226 makes a sharp turn just past his father's home, and he worries that pavement means danger.

"I've got mixed feelings," he said. "People drive 10 to 15 miles per hour faster on blacktop. I am worried about traffic on these county roads plowing into farm equipment."

Commissioner Larry Bock, who takes the lead on road issues for the commission, said costs versus benefits of the dust control program led to its abandonment.

Bock said that after he won election to the commission, the county was faced with a need to replace numerous bridges. Cost-share agreements covered only the first three years of a dust control project, then the county assumed full responsibility, he said.

A committee, similar to the new advisory panel, recommended ending dust control.

"They recommended we do away with the dust control program because it was too expensive and too time-consuming," Bock said. "Their feeling was that we didn't have time to take care of dust control."

None of the agreements on cost-sharing was put in writing, Bock noted. That led residents to expect permanent maintenance on their patch of asphalt with no further expense on their part.

"With the hard surface or dust control in place, if we don't keep it up it will just get potholey and go to pieces," Bock said.

As things stand now, Mother Nature provides the only respite from dust for people living along gravel roads. And the rain accompanying the cool front that broke last week's heat wave was blessed relief for Delbert and Jackie Mueller.

"We got God's dust control," said Delbert Mueller, who lives along County Road 316.

The Muellers live on a small hill about 100 feet from the road. The dust that blows in when cars and trucks pass settles on everything.

Along with neighbors David and Connie Seabaugh, the Muellers have been the most diligent county residents monitoring the commission's work since they voted to put Proposition 1 on the ballot.

Rules in place to guide county paving projects require that residents along a patch of road voluntarily surrender easements to widen the surface before it is paved. The county has 54 miles of such easements on file and expects that blacktop would cover that length by 2012 if Proposition 1 is approved.

The Muellers would be happy if, until their road is paved, the county would put a dust control patch in front of their home. And it doesn't have to be hot-mix asphalt, the most expensive way to lay down blacktop. They would be happy, they said, with a chip-and-seal surface, which is created by applying a layer of oil, then covering it with a layer of small rock that binds together.

"That would satisfy me for right now," Delbert Mueller said.

But for David Seabaugh, small patches of chip-and-seal in front of homes isn't enough. Using figures supplied to the commission citing cost alternatives for the various methods of applying blacktop, he believes the county could rapidly put a hard surface on far more miles of road than currently planned.

Within four years, Seabaugh said, the county could have a hard surface on 215 miles of the 300 miles of gravel road it maintains. About 100 miles are currently paved with blacktop.

That would make an enormous difference for county residents, Seabaugh said. Dust permeates everything, he said, illustrating his point by opening the back door of his wife's car to show the thick layer of dust where the door and car body meet.

"You cannot keep the dust out," he said.

Seabaugh builds vinyl fences, and although he washes the material before it leaves his home, it is covered again when he reaches his customers. He said they wonder if he is bringing them used material.

Seabaugh has had other problems with the county that have made him bitter about the way county road issues are handled. County Road 316 in front of his home had a cost-share dust control patch, but a family illness left him unable to pay the second installment. Instead of leaving it as it was, he said, the county put a new layer of gravel on. The old patch is visible on the crown of the road.

"Just now, 17 years later, it is starting to crack up," Seabaugh said.

The idea of a chip-and-seal surface appeals to Bob Henry, who lives along County Road 525. Sharp rocks have punctured his tires 15 times in the four years he's lived there, Henry said.

"Everybody wants their road paved, but that is not going to happen in my lifetime," Henry said. "I think if they oiled and sealed the roads, we would get there pretty fast."

A chip-and-seal surface doesn't fit the county's needs, Bock said. Too many roads are too narrow to accommodate faster traffic, he said.

Any dust control program, he said, is contingent on passage of Proposition 1.

"If it is not a positive vote, then just forget it," he said. "I feel we will, I think we will get a positive vote. Then the road and bridge committee will need to take a look at that. If they think it is a good idea, they will recommend whether there should be a cost-share."

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126