More money was poured into county roads this year and the Union County judge said weather played a big role.
Union County Judge Mike Loftin said there is $2.1 million in the budget for asphalt every year. At the July meeting of the Quorum Court, an ordinance was passed appropriating an extra $2 million from the Solid Waste Capitol Outlay funds for resurfacing roads in the county.
“There have been some numbers used to the public concerning the amount of asphalt that this county has bought within the last seven years,” Loftin said at the meeting.
Loftin listed the cost of asphalt that was used for the past seven years:
• 2011: $2,084,891.54
• 2012: $1,753,672.55
• 2013: $1,699,038.05
• 2014: $1,679,613.83
• 2015: $2,081,367.78
• 2016: $1,931,143.96
• 2017: $2,051,486.04
•So far in 2018 - $2,898,952.
Loftin said the reason he wanted to take the $2 million from the reserve was because there was a longer “laying season” this year.
“I didn’t have the spring flooding that I’ve had in the past,” Loftin said. “The summer has been really hot and dry and that’s good for our road work. We actually got started with asphalt two months earlier this year than we have in the past few years because of weather.”
Loftin said it costs around $228,000 a mile, to build a road that will hold large vehicles including log trucks, oil trucks, oil field equipment, etc, “which we typically have on a county road.”
Loftin said the majority of the $2 million is being spent on 3 miles of Braswell Corner Road and 4.5 miles of Hibanks Road.
Kaitlyn Rigdon can be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected].