Tippah County, MS -
FAST FACTS:
dennis.turner@wreg.com
(Tippah County, MS 2/9/2010) If you live in rural areas, you probably have road problems.
The bad weather we've been having doesn't just damage roads in the country, it destroys them.
It's the biggest reason school districts remain closed with all the major roads are clear and dry.
Rural roads are suffering more than ever this year.
Skippy Wyse sees some of the worst car damage of year in the winter and he says it boils down to one major cause. "This has been probably the worst winter we've had in several years. It's really been playin' havoc with the roads," said the owner of the National Tire Store in Walnut, Mississippi.
Potholes may be an urban problem, but in the country, bad weather can destroy a road.
Gravel roads wash away in the quick freeze-thaw-rain cycles we've seen. "It just comes apart just like you've ground it up and the only process we have to work with is, to try to keep enough rock on 'em to keep 'em together to keep school buses and the public through," said Tippah County District One Supervisor Jimmy Gunn.
Gunn says it's taken three weeks to get enough gravel on at least one road to make it passable for school buses.
If you think paved roads are in better shape, think again. Some of these roads are in just as bad a shape and more expensive to repair.
It starts with super-saturated ground. "It's about like the consistency of pudding," said Tippah County Road Manager Larry Johnson.
After that, that pavement can't hold vehicles up, and starts to buckle on top of the soft mud.
"It has a pumping effect and will cause it to squirt up on the side like where cracks are, and once that happens then when you get more moisture it'll go through. It'll make the sub-scale even worse," Johnson explained.
And he says paved roads can cost from 40 to 60-thousand dollars a mile to build or repair, at a time when states have cut back on aid money.
"We have a lot of front-end repair needs on vehicles because of that. It's been real good for my business, but not so very good for the public," said Wyse.
They say only good weather can improve the situation. Fortunately, winter is almost over.
- Many gravel roads hit hard by ice, snow and runoff
- Paved roads, disintigrating
- Governments struggling to keep roads passable
dennis.turner@wreg.com
(Tippah County, MS 2/9/2010) If you live in rural areas, you probably have road problems.
The bad weather we've been having doesn't just damage roads in the country, it destroys them.
It's the biggest reason school districts remain closed with all the major roads are clear and dry.
Rural roads are suffering more than ever this year.
Skippy Wyse sees some of the worst car damage of year in the winter and he says it boils down to one major cause. "This has been probably the worst winter we've had in several years. It's really been playin' havoc with the roads," said the owner of the National Tire Store in Walnut, Mississippi.
Potholes may be an urban problem, but in the country, bad weather can destroy a road.
Gravel roads wash away in the quick freeze-thaw-rain cycles we've seen. "It just comes apart just like you've ground it up and the only process we have to work with is, to try to keep enough rock on 'em to keep 'em together to keep school buses and the public through," said Tippah County District One Supervisor Jimmy Gunn.
Gunn says it's taken three weeks to get enough gravel on at least one road to make it passable for school buses.
If you think paved roads are in better shape, think again. Some of these roads are in just as bad a shape and more expensive to repair.
It starts with super-saturated ground. "It's about like the consistency of pudding," said Tippah County Road Manager Larry Johnson.
After that, that pavement can't hold vehicles up, and starts to buckle on top of the soft mud.
"It has a pumping effect and will cause it to squirt up on the side like where cracks are, and once that happens then when you get more moisture it'll go through. It'll make the sub-scale even worse," Johnson explained.
And he says paved roads can cost from 40 to 60-thousand dollars a mile to build or repair, at a time when states have cut back on aid money.
"We have a lot of front-end repair needs on vehicles because of that. It's been real good for my business, but not so very good for the public," said Wyse.
They say only good weather can improve the situation. Fortunately, winter is almost over.
