Lowndes County roads get extra attention with new restoration machine
LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Across Lowndes County, many roads need extra attention, and with the new full-depth restoration machine, it will be a quicker process as it does more than just scratch the surface.
Road Manager for Lowndes County Mike Aldridge said many of the roads on the west side of the Tombigbee have a problem with the base, and they do not hold up well. The machine is there to fix it.
“It comes through and takes all the material that’s in the road, it grinds it all up and turns it into a base that we can re-set up,” Aldridge said.
Many steps go into restoring the road to what it once was, but this machine makes the process much faster and with less labor.
“The best part about this machine is, everything we tear up today, we’ll have this road back open for people to use this afternoon,” Aldridge said.
This project was supposed to start sooner, but with the rainy July, they had to delay plans. Now, those plans are underway, and Jeff Smith of the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors said they now have every opportunity to repair the road properly.
“It gives us a tool to go back and address some badly needed roads that are in need of some attention,” Smith said. “We don’t want to just give it attention, we want to give it the attention that’s gonna sustain it.”
Instead of only lasting three to four years, these restored roads should last for the next 10 to 12 years.
“This is going to be an ongoing process, not just a month or so,” Aldridge said. “This will go into years as roads tear up, we’ll go through and restore them again.”
“We ask the public to continue to be patient and supportive of the plan,” Smith said. “There is a plan, and if we can implement that plan promptly, we’ll be able to address their concerns which are the roads.
Aldridge said that this machine has been extremely productive so far, and they are excited to see what it can do for the future of the Lowndes County roads.
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