Road repairs are on the list

Mayor Randy Hope sympathizes with concerns about deteriorating roads but said the municipality can only do so much.

“I hate to tell anyone who calls about an issue that it’s on a list, but quite honestly, that’s the truth,” he said. “We have to make determinations each season about what we can fix within our budget. Priorities can change depending on what the climate does.”

Hope said completely resurfacing a kilometer of roadway costs in the area of half a million dollars.

“The work has to be done properly, it takes trained professionals and raw material,” he said. “We work to keep costs in line and get value for our dollars but there’s no denying it’s expensive.”

The municipality has 3,350 kilometers of road, from highways to secondary roads to gravel roads.

“Laid end to end our roadways would stretch to Florida and three quarters of the way back,” he said. “Keeping them safe is no small feat.”

Jerry Corso, manager of public works south for the municipality said C-K roads are evaluated by engineering and rated.

“All roads go through an evaluation and work is done according to need,” he said. “We can quite honestly tell someone that their road is on the list to be done next year but if conditions change it can push them back a year or more.”

Corso said the last two winters have been extremely harsh and have wrecked havoc on roads. “We really need a break this winter to catch up.”

The municipality budgets more than $10 million dollars for road repair each year.