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Paving projects face a difficult budget

Commissioners tour needier sections of La Plata County
La Plata County maintains 650 miles of roads, some of which need paving and reconstruction. A truck travels Tuesday on County Road 228, which is too narrow for the volume of traffic it receives.

La Plata County’s web of roads – 650 miles worth – needs millions of dollars in maintenance and reconstruction, county officials were told Tuesday.

Commissioners toured some of the worst sections Tuesday to see the needs in person.

Across the network of county roads, about 27 miles of gravel roads should be paved, according to the county’s code, said Doyle Villers, the county’s road maintenance superintendent. These are roads traveled by at least 400 vehicles a day.

The road construction would make roads safer, improve drainage and reduce maintenance along heavily traveled corridors.

“That’s a huge responsibility of the county to make sure roads are safe,” said Gwen Lachelt, chairwoman of the La Plata County Commission.

But paving is a pricey proposition. On average, it can cost roughly $1 million a mile or more, Lachelt said.

A mile of County Road 228 near the intersection of County Road 234 exemplifies some of the needs.

An average of 900 vehicles a day travel the dangerously narrow gravel section of road, which has an aging bridge and no shoulders.

“It’s one we would love to find additional funding to reconstruct and pave,” said Jim Davis, the county’s public works director.

Other county roads that need improvement include 510, 228, 250, 229, 203 and 309A, south of the Durango-La Plata County Airport.

Roads that need to be widened, such as County Road 228, require several years of planning and work with adjacent landowners before the county can start work, Davis said.

In the past, the county proposed and approved many road projects because they qualified for grant funding, Davis said.

But after the flooding on the Front Range, those grant funds may be more difficult to obtain, he said.

“We’re facing challenges like everyone else,” he said.

Without a tax increase, the Road and Bridge Fund could face serious shortages in the next few years, especially given the declining price and production of natural gas in the county, Lachelt said.

The county is considering a property-tax increase that would support road and bridge projects. A countywide poll is underway this week to see whether residents would support an increase and the amount of an increase.

The commission has not decided when to put a property-tax question to the voters.

mshinn@durangoherald.com



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