Proposed Cape Girardeau County paving plan suggests new funding sources

The Cape Girardeau County road and bridge advisory board is asking for $2.5 million to put hard surfaces on 14 miles of roads in 2009. Proposition 1 funds will provide less than $1.5 million; the board has suggested a few other funding sources.

County commissioners learned Monday the advisory board hopes to add nearly $1 million to the budget, drawing from the $305,000 FEMA reimbursement to the county's highway department's work after the ice storms and floods this year; an estimated $225,300 in interest earned on the account for Prop 1 and the county's emergency fund; and $340,000 in excess Prop 1 money from the county sheriff's department.

The commissioners said they will make a decision while reviewing the 2009 budget later this month.

Using just Prop 1 money, the county paved nearly 14 miles of road for $1.9 million this year. But the spike in fuel prices raised costs.

Scott Bechtold, the county's highway administrator, said he factored in higher fuel costs while developing the the 2009 proposal with the advisory board. The plan calls for using chip-and-seal paving on 10 miles of road and the more expensive asphalt on four miles.

"Because of the amount of funding available, we're weren't getting as many miles," Bechtold said. "We felt it was better to get a firm budget number and then say, based on what our estimate of what it is going to cost, 'We can do this many miles on these roads.'"

Bechtold said the board has not named the roads to be paved in the upcoming season, in part to manage the public's expectations. The advisory board recommends paving priorities, but the commission can change them; this year, some roads on the paving list were replaced after easements could not be completed.

"The public's expectations might be a little unrealistic, thinking we could do more, more than would be feasible," he said. "We still want to do as much as possible, but sometimes it's worth saving $5,000 or spending $5,000 because it'll save $25,000 over the long haul."

Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones said he has heard complaints about the roads.

Larry Payne, the advisory board's chairman, said a test patch of chip-and-seal paving on County Road 471 done more than two years ago has performed well.

"When the base goes, the surface goes," Payne said, referring to two county roads where some of the chip-and-seal pavement has crumbled. The problem has been traced to a poor base. "We'd have had the same issue whether it was hot mix or chip and seal. It would have occurred three months later, but it would have occurred."

Payne said contractors typically have the specialized equipment, such as gravel spreaders need for the base work, and that it costs less for contractors to do the work as well as reduces problems once the road is paved. Bechtold further said that problems on two county roads where the chip-and-seal paving has started to crumble are the result of a time gap between the county's preparation of the road and the paving.

"If we put [gravel] down and they don't go right in behind us, it gets uneven," he said.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

388-3646