Rebuild Alabama grant will help rebuild two county roads

CRANE HILL      -  Two of the worst roads in Winston County’s commission district 1 will now receive resurface treatment, with a portion of funding coming through a Rebuild Alabama grant, Governor Kay Ivey has announced.
County Road 4006 will be resurfaced from County Road 22 to County Road 4009, as will 4009 from 4006 to Smith Lake, county officials said.
“When I took office, these were the two worst paved roads in my district,” stressed Winston County Commissioner for District 1 Rutger Hyche.
Hyche met with constituents in those areas in December, 2022, to discuss options on what could be done, he said.
“Pretty much, everybody there was in agreement to grind it up and turn it back to a gravel/dirt road, until we could secure the funding,” added Hyche.
The county began grinding up 4006 and 4009 this past spring, county officials said.
“It was beyond patching,” Hyche noted. “We ground it up, widened the road and cleaned all the ditches out. We hauled over 100 tons of material out from cleaning the ditches.  The ditches were completely stopped up. It had been completely neglected for years.”
Hyche informed residents that application would be made for a grant toward the roads, which was done in February under the Rebuild Alabama program.
Winston County’s portion of funding came from the state-allotted $2.6 million through the Rebuild Alabama Act, an annual grant program which passed the legislature and was signed by Ivey in 2019.  The program requires the Alabama Department of Transportation to establish an annual program setting aside $10 million off the top of the state’s share of new gas tax revenue for local projects, Ivey stated.
Winston County applied for $250,000 after data, including traffic counts, was collected for both County Roads 4006 and 4009, Hyche stated.
Now that the funding has been approved, ALDOT will prepare a contract for the county to sign, signifying the county will receive the $250,000, and be responsible for any matching amounts, noted State Representative Tim Wadsworth.
“I think (these roads) were the worst ones in Winston County,” Wadsworth stated. “This (project) is a great benefit for the east side of Winston County. t helps all those folks who drive on those roads and also go down to Smith Lake.”