More Needs to be Done to Fix Dirt Roads in Franklin Co, Says Commissioner

Franklin County Commissioner Robert Franklin is urging the County to do a better job of maintaining dirt roads in his district.

At their recent Board of Commissioners work session, Franklin said many of the dirt roads in his district are littered with potholes.

“I believe that we can rock dirt roads cheaper than we can pave them,” he said. “There are some roads in district one that look pitiful. I know we’ve had rain and snow but when you scrape a road and there’s no gravel there you fill up the same pothole that comes back with the next rain. If we h ad gravel in those potholes they wouldn’t come back. There are some pot holes in district one that somebody needs to look at.”

Franklin said some potholes, such as those on Banks Road, has huge potholes.

“Some of them are so big you could park a car in them,” he said.

Franklin said he gets calls from constituents who live on those roads and he has inspected the roads for himself and said many are in poor condition.

He added that if the County is not going to pave them they should at least have new gravel added on a regular basis.

Commission Chair Jason Macomson suggested Franklin send a list of roads in his district needing work to the Road Department.

County Manager Derrick Turner added the County has been able to purchase gravel cheaper recently and said the Road Department does keep a list of roads that need to be scraped and re-graveled regularly.

Commissioner Ryan Swails complimented the Road Dept for the job they did paving Diamond Lane in his district but added it might be time for the County to again consider a Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax or T-SPLOST.

“I did want to commend the Road Dept on some of the projects they have been working on, like the one on Diamond Lane…,” he said. “I do feel that we need to start looking ahead toward what kind of T-SPLOST options are out there in the future because that’s one of the many roads we need to address in the coming years.”

A T-SPLOST is a one-cent sales tax that everyone, even non-county residents, would contribute to whenever they make a purchase in Franklin County, and it would help add to the County’s road budget.

The County plans to repair or resurface seven roads in the county using funds from the Local Maintenance Improvement Grant from the Georgia Department of Transportation and a County match.

Macomson said Franklin County gets about $750,000 a year in LMIG funds, but with over 400 roads in the County they can only pick about five or six roads a year to pave, repair, or resurface.

The County is currently advertising for bids for three resurfacing projects.