Funding cuts prolong Bedford's unpaved road requests

FOREST — A white picket fence beside fields of green along Tabernacle Lane in Forest is a sight worth seeing.

Gravel and dust on unpaved portions of the road is one Gerald Martin would rather forget.

“I didn’t really want to live on a dirt road all my life,” said Martin, who moved to the area from Connecticut in 1992. “It’s not the most pleasant environment.”

For the past 15 years, Martin has asked local transportation and county officials to pave just under a mile along Tabernacle, which runs between Cottontown and Coffee roads.

He’s still waiting — along with dozens of other residents who live on a long list of unpaved roads in Bedford County.

Bob Sutton, county residency administrator for the Virginia Department of Transportation, said his department continues to see significant funding cuts to secondary road improvements.

Those shortfalls, in turn, keep pushing back a list of 45 unpaved roads county officials have indicated need paving, he said.

Tabernacle ranks in the Top 10. It has the least-expensive project estimate of all roads on the list, at $24,000.

Goode Station Road ranks first on the list, which is prioritized by county supervisors.

Supervisors’ rankings are based on what they think the pressing needs are, like safety issues and traffic volume, Chairman Steve Arrington said.

Though supervisors don’t have much control over funding that comes from the state, Arrington said they could make changes within the waiting list, which they did last month.

Supervisor Annie Pollard, whose district in the western part of the county ties Arrington’s for most roads within the plan, pushed to switch a road ranked 26 with one ranked second.

She said emergency vehicles have to reroute around parts of Woolridge Road due to its condition, which is why she lobbied to have it at the top of the list.

Martin is one of several who faithfully attend county meetings year after year asking for action. He said he has talked with VDOT personnel so much that it seems like they are family.

“I’ve done everything I can do,” Martin said. “I’m frustrated because I don’t have any new information to talk about. I just repeat the old issues.”

Sutton said it’s a frustrating situation for him, too. At least for now, little relief appears in sight.

“I try to be factual and not give them any false pretense that their road is going to be placed ahead of another road,” said Sutton. “I try to tell them the truth — that’s probably not what they want to hear.”

Prior to 2000, Sutton said the allocation for secondary roads was $1 million a year. Now that amount is $250,000, which Sutton said could pave one project a year with today’s escalating prices.

The county has close to 900 miles of secondary roads, he said. More than 200 miles are unpaved, with only 60 miles on the county’s waiting list.

The costs of paving all roads on the list, according to project estimates, surpass $20 million.

Secondary roads, and unpaved roads in particular, probably won’t be affected immediately by the General Assembly’s special session on transportation that opens in Richmond on Monday.

Most proposals for new road funds, in legislation put forth by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and also by members of the assembly, focus on easing congestion in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. Kaine also has a separate proposal for maintenance of primary roads throughout the state.

None of those funds would be earmarked for secondary roads.

Each of Bedford County’s seven districts is represented in the list.

Arrington serves District 5 — which he said has a high amount of unpaved roads.

A frustration level exists in the district, he said, because nothing is getting done.

The hopes of those waiting are slipping and his aggravation, he said, is in what he perceives as a movement by state legislators to give counties the responsibility for secondary roads.

“I think Richmond has blown it in a major way,” he said.

Each year the board and VDOT representatives hold a public hearing where citizens come to talk about road needs within a six-year plan the county adopts.

At the most recent hearing in December 2007, a former county supervisor mentioned raising the real-estate tax rate a penny and using the money for paving since state funding is scarce.

Arrington said with high costs of property values and conditions in the economy, he is opposed to tax increases for transportation, even if it came down to a tax raise the county initiates.

“I certainly will and cannot support tax raises,” he said. “I don’t see taxpayers as ATMs.”

Sutton said residents have never officially requested paving roads for whatever reasons.

A consequence, he said, of a rural county.

Bedford's unpaved roads:

District 1 (Stewartsville area)

3 roads, 2.27 miles ($681,000)

Roads: Spradlin, Blankenship, Moorman

District 2 (Moneta area)

5 roads, 7 miles ($2.1 million)

Roads: Lipscomb, Rock Cliff, Altice, Fairview Church, Roach

District 3 (Huddleston area)

6 roads, 6.4 miles ($2.9 million)

Roads: Junction School, Egypt, Jackson, Bellview, Carters Mill, Chellis Ford

District 5 (Forest, Boonsboro and Big Island areas)

11 roads, 19.4 miles ($6.4 million)

Roads: Sweet Hollow, Mine, Tabernacle, Hurricane, Corneillus, Lazenburry, Walker (in two areas), Rocky Mountain, Oslin, Terrapin

District 6 (Montvale area)

11 roads, 14.2 miles ($4.2 million)

Roads: Cool Springs, Pike (in two areas), Hutchens, Rocky Ford, Woolridge, Simmons Mill, Beale Trail, Crouch, Pilot Mountain, McDearmon

District 7 (Goode area)

6 roads, 5 miles ($1.8 million)

Roads: Goode Station, Five Forks, Fiddler Creek, Mob Creek, Woods, Turkey Mountain

Inner district projects

3 roads, 5.11 miles ($1.8 million)

Roads: Headens Bridge, Bells Mill, Elkton Farm

Steps to get a road paved:

- Road must be in the state secondary system of highways and be state maintained.

- Road must carry traffic of 50 vehicles or more a day.

- Right of way to widen and pave a road must be made available to VDOT (property owners usually donate to provide a 50-foot right of way).

- Funding must be reserved in a county’s six-year plan for roads.