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Inflation and Construction Costs Hold Back N.C. Pavers: State to Pave 1.74 Miles of Brunswick County Roads This Year

Posted on: Tuesday, 21 March 2006, 09:00 CST

By Steve Jones, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Mar. 21--BOLIVIA, N.C. -- It will take decades to pave the 32 miles of dirt roads in Brunswick County, N.C., if the state Department of Transportation gets no additional money and if construction costs don't rise.

But even some of the 1.74 miles that are scheduled to be paved this year might not get any attention if inflation messes with the state's plan, Chris Baker of the DOT told Brunswick commissioners Monday night.

"It's very, very limited," Commissioner May Moore said after the state's presentation. "It's more limited than it should be."

The DOT 2005-06 secondary roads construction program will spend $1.1 million in Brunswick County this year and will pave no more than 0.4 miles of any of the 32 roads currently on several priority lists. The program will do work on all six roads on the subdivision priority list, though, which together total 1.34 miles. It will also pick up 0.4 miles of Goodland Road near the intersection of N.C. 87 and U.S. 17 from the rural priority list.

An additional 16 rural roads totalling nearly 13 miles will go unfunded, as will 21 miles of roads that are on a hold list awaiting right-of-way dedication. Baker said the state must have rights of way dedicated to it before it will place a road on either the subdivision or rural priority lists.

The program also allocates more than $440,000 for section improvements countywide.

Commissioner Bill Sue said some roads in Brunswick are kept out of the state's paving and maintenance schedules because they were not built to specifications.

He said the state began requiring the roads it would accept to be up to state standards in the 1970s. The county's subdivision ordinance which mirrored the state regulations came later, and residents left on roads not up to state standards will face costs for items such as widening and strengthening before the state will accept ownership.

All public roads in North Carolina are maintained either by the state or cities.

Contact STEVE JONES at (910) 754-9855 or sjones@thesunnews.com [mailto:sjones@thesunnews.com].

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, S.C.)

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