Crawford commissioners discuss dirt road safety

ROBERTA, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Crawford County commissioners are concerned about dirt roads in the area.

The county manager says when severe weather ruins the roads, the county is responsible for maintaining them and not doing so could lead to a major problem.

On the driest of days, dirt roads like Allen Road in Musella aren’t an issue.

“If we know there’s a hazardous situation, it’s incumbent upon us to repair it immediately or sooner,” County Manager Pat Kelly said.

He says when heavy rains damage and wash away the roads, that’s when there’s a problem.

“If the county ignores the situation; a bridge has been washed out, a culvert has been washed away and there’s indeed a severe hazard and we ignore it, that’s problematic,” Kelly said.

Commissioners discussed what the county would and wouldn’t be responsible for should weather damage the roads.

If leaders are aware, they must the fix the issue – quickly.

“Even if they’re passable, with weather like that hits them during that event, they’re not passable,” Kelly said.

According to Kelly, not many people travel down those roads in the rural part of Crawford County and paving one road would be too costly.

“We only get $300 something thousand annually to take care of our other 100 miles of dirt roads and our 150 miles of paved roads. Simply the funding is not there to do anything like that,” Kelly said.

Crews will tend to roads when necessary, but because of lack of manpower, they can’t get to every road in the county immediately.

“You don’t want to abandon them because you’d say 10 years from now, why did we abandon them? Now there are people that want to move out there,” Kelly said.

It’s an issue, commissioners say can only be fixed with awareness and vigilance and team work to keep the community safe.

Kelly says the county ordered signs to warn people to only drive down the roads if necessary. They’ll be put up in the coming weeks.