Piecemeal Road Projects
FRANKLIN COUNTY-- They're roads to somewhere, but on the ground they're going nowhere.
KEPR Action News investigated a few road projects in Franklin County that have been in the works for years. Progress comes in spurts and seems piecemeal at best.
For example, the new Road 170 in Basin City should be done next month. But this is four years after a landslide wiped it out.
The project has come together bit by bit and it's the same approach for Foster Wells Road. Expanding it to reach Highway 395 will give you a new shortcut, but the money and the work has also come piece by piece.
Commissioner Rick Miller says people who live in the county regularly communicate their frustration.
"We get quite a bit of feedback. You know, why projects take so long. Can we save money by spending at once. But again, we have to go through a couple of different phases to get that kind of money,” said Miller.
Another project at Juniper Dunes has taken decades. Commissioner Miller says right now the county is trying to get about a million dollars to pay for a mile of new public access road, but that’s only half of what the county has planned.
“In 1985 when it was declared a wilderness area, it was said that within two or three years we would have access. But that never happened."
Commissioner Miller says the difficulty begins with how much the county gets back in the gas taxes it pays. For every gallon of gas you buy, 57 cents goes into a road money pot. But Miller says once it goes through the system, only about 34 cents comes back to Franklin County
Or put another way: for every dollar that goes in, the county only gets 59 cents back.
Commissioner Miller says projects are done piece by piece because counties don’t have the money for such large projects all at once.
Filling the money gap can come from grants, or more recently stimulus dollars.
"It's the system. It’s bureaucracy. Could the system be better? I think because of the demands for road money, you have to go through these pieces and processes."
Commissioner Miller also gave us figures on what other counties get back per dollar of gas tax they pay in. It turns out some counties are getting a lot.
For example, Adams County gets more than $5 back for every dollar it pays in. But in our area, Franklin and Benton counties get less than 70 cents back of every dollar. Miller says the agencies issuing the money take into account population growth and safety considerations when it decides where to put the money.
KEPR Action News investigated a few road projects in Franklin County that have been in the works for years. Progress comes in spurts and seems piecemeal at best.
For example, the new Road 170 in Basin City should be done next month. But this is four years after a landslide wiped it out.
The project has come together bit by bit and it's the same approach for Foster Wells Road. Expanding it to reach Highway 395 will give you a new shortcut, but the money and the work has also come piece by piece.
Commissioner Rick Miller says people who live in the county regularly communicate their frustration.
"We get quite a bit of feedback. You know, why projects take so long. Can we save money by spending at once. But again, we have to go through a couple of different phases to get that kind of money,” said Miller.
Another project at Juniper Dunes has taken decades. Commissioner Miller says right now the county is trying to get about a million dollars to pay for a mile of new public access road, but that’s only half of what the county has planned.
“In 1985 when it was declared a wilderness area, it was said that within two or three years we would have access. But that never happened."
Commissioner Miller says the difficulty begins with how much the county gets back in the gas taxes it pays. For every gallon of gas you buy, 57 cents goes into a road money pot. But Miller says once it goes through the system, only about 34 cents comes back to Franklin County
Or put another way: for every dollar that goes in, the county only gets 59 cents back.
Commissioner Miller says projects are done piece by piece because counties don’t have the money for such large projects all at once.
Filling the money gap can come from grants, or more recently stimulus dollars.
"It's the system. It’s bureaucracy. Could the system be better? I think because of the demands for road money, you have to go through these pieces and processes."
Commissioner Miller also gave us figures on what other counties get back per dollar of gas tax they pay in. It turns out some counties are getting a lot.
For example, Adams County gets more than $5 back for every dollar it pays in. But in our area, Franklin and Benton counties get less than 70 cents back of every dollar. Miller says the agencies issuing the money take into account population growth and safety considerations when it decides where to put the money.
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