COUNTY SEEKS INPUT ON PAVING POLICY

With 420 miles of roads, Cape Girardeau County has only 76 paved miles, and it has taken many years to accomplish that by doing a few miles each year.

County commissions in the past have chosen which gravel roads to pave based on traffic counts as well as the cooperation of property owners along the roads. The commission would like to pave more roads, and it wants public input on a paving policy it eventually will adopt.

One provision being considered would give rural residents a way to petition the county to pave less-traveled roads providing the property owners share in the cost.

Because of the high cost of paving, the county is limited on how many miles of road it can pave each year, and the suggestion that property owners help pay the cost for roads that otherwise wouldn't be on the paving list is a good one. The county might be surprised by the number of applications it receives considering the residential growth along unpaved roads in the county.

Now is the time to make your thoughts known on a paving policy for the county that could lead to a stepped-up effort toward paving roads.