WINSTON COUNTY - Funds Winston County is receiving under the Rebuild Alabama program have paved the way for much needed improvements, to the tune of $1.4 million.
Winston County Road Engineer James Glasgow presented the Fiscal Year 2024 County Transportation Plan at the Winston County Commission’s Monday, Aug. 28, meeting, a plan the commission later approved.
County officials are estimated to receive $800,000 in Rebuild Alabama funds, which are based off gas tax revenues throughout the state, with another $600,000 left over from last year’s projects. The monies will be combined and applied to road projects in both districts 1 and 2, Glasgow explained.
The reason $600,000 was brought over from last year is the county had equipment issues, with a machine being down and the county having to purchase a new one, according to Glasgow.
“We didn’t add any new projects last year,” he explained.
The $800,000 in state monies is based off what the county has received in previous years, with a 10-cent cap off the gas tax proceeds from the third year of Rebuild Alabama implementation, county officials explained.
For FY 2024, Winston County is again anticipating another $800,000 based on this funding trend, which is going a long way in improving roads that the county, without the gas tax proceeds, would have been unable to afford.
“We’ve always struggled on roads,” stressed Commission Chairman Roger Hayes. “The people deserve as good as we can give them. We’d like for it to be better, but we’re trying. We feel like that’s an effort, and I think people as a whole see that.
“That shows that the projects we’ve got, when we turn it into the state to get it approved, that shows transparency,” Hayes pointed out.
“It shows the people what the county is doing with that 10 cent gasoline tax, and I like that,” Hayes continued. “We need to be transparent.
“It shows that the state is overseeing it, and a lot of people are liking that, and I hope they are liking this,” Hayes said. “I am tickled that we can keep our roads up a little bit better with this tax.”
The road work will cause an inconvenience to residents, as some roads may be reduced to one lane at certain project stages, according to Glasgow.
This will only occur due to culvert replacements, but the closures should not last longer than a day, Glasgow informed residents.
The fiscal year projects for FY 2024 will go from Oct. 1, 2023, through Sept. 30, 2024.
“We’re receiving about $67,000 a month,” stressed Glasgow.
The only project that was not completed last year that will be carried over to this year is County Road 3078 in the Black Pond area, he said.
“We’ve actually done some work on it,” Glasgow noted. “It has been ground up in some places. We have to continue to grind the whole road up, add some materials (chip seal) then resurface.”
The entire project, which spans about two miles, is costing $90,000, according to Glasgow.
Work on the remaining roads included in this fiscal year is well underway.
“We’ve gotten a lot done this year,” Glasgow stated about projects leading up to this year. “We’ve done probably 10 miles so far this year, and we’re projected to do 12 more by the end of this next month.”
District 1 projects
Under the FY 2024 transportation plan, two projects will be in district 1, or the eastern side of Winston County, road officials said.
The first project actually encompasses two roads, including County Roads 4006
and 4009 in the Crane Hill area. The total project will be 4.5 miles, officials added.
That project is well underway, with both roads having been ground up, awaiting a chip seal and resurfacing treatment, according to county officials.
“It has been ground up. We’ll have to add some base in certain areas, then shape it and resurface it,” Glasgow pointed out.
This project received an extra boost in funding, thanks to a separate $250,000 Rebuild Alabama annual grant, county road officials said.
“We applied for that project and got an additional $250,000,” said Glasgow, adding that every city or county can apply for the competitive grant.
“We are having to use some of our funds, as well,” Glasgow noted. “We are going to have to add $75,000 of our Rebuild Alabama money from this year to finish that project.”
The next project in District 1 will be County Road 35, resurfacing about 3.2 miles from Highway 278 at Lakeshore to County Road 63 in the Moreland area, according to Glasgow. The cost for this project is $700,000, county officials said.
A hot mix treatment will be provided to this road, since it serves as a major connector road with a higher traffic count, according to Glasgow.
No work has been done on this project as the new fiscal year begins, he added.
District 2 projects
Moving into District 2, plans are to resurface Ellenburg Road from Highway 13 about three quarters of a mile to Dime Road in the Haleyville area. The cost for this project is $45,000, county officials said.
The next project in District 2 under the new plan will be resurfacing Oakwood Drive off Delashaw Road in Haleyville, about a third of a mile, costing $100,000, Glasgow continued.
County Roads 3407, 3408 and 3409 off of Newburg Road near Haleyville will also be repaired, with the cost of the project being around $100,000.
County 3217 will be resurfaced from the area of County Road 23 three quarters of a mile to Friendship Church, at a cost of $50,000, Glasgow continued.
About 1.6 miles will be resurfaced on County Roads 415 and 416 off County Road 6 in the Double Springs areas at a cost of $94,000, he added.
Glasgow expressed confidence in completing these road projects over the next year.
The cost of each road project varies depending not only on the length of road being resurfaced, but also if chip seal or hot mix is used, Glasgow explained, adding that hot mix is a more expensive application to roads.
“We do a lot of chip seal,” he noted. “We have one project next year that will be hot mix, but it’s a lot more expensive.”
That will be the $700,000 project from Lakeshore to Moreland, Glasgow further explained.
See complete story in the Northwest Alabamian.
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