Oil prices force county to cut back armor coating projects

Tag : Back Coating
The three men are looking at prices ranging from $15,000 to $16,200a mile, (compared to approximately $4,000 just several years ago)and are considering working on asphalt and armor-coated roads twomiles south of the former District 8 school house, 6 1/2 milesnorth of Bartley and 1 1/2 miles south of the Perry elevator.
Gary Dicenta, the county's roads supervisor, suggestedcommissioners look into using a newly-developed road coveringproduct that uses a manufactured rock material that is flatter andlighter weight, with no excess gravel on the road at completion. Healso wants to investigate using an emulsified oil, which is lessexpensive because it uses less oil. Commissioner Steve Downer said,however, a savings is lost if the road doesn't last as long as atraditional armor coating.
McNutt bemoaned the rising costs of maintaining the county'shard-surfaced rural roads. "It was nice when it was cheap to buildand maintain," he said. "It's not cheap now."
But, fellow commissioner Leigh Hoyt said, commissioners arethreatened with "tarring and feathering" if they suggest removinghard surfaces and going back to gravel. Dicenta agreed, saying thatrural residents "don't care about the size or the number of thepotholes," they just don't want to return to gravel.