By Josh Mitchell
Corinth Today News Editor
Alcorn County taxpayers are upset about living on damaged roads, 4th District County Supervisor Steve Glidewell said.
“It’s got to be very frustrating,” said Glidewell, who took Corinth Today on a tour of some of the rough roads and bridges in his district Thursday.
“You probably didn’t know roads this rough existed,” Glidewell said as his truck bumped along.
In fact, one resident said he would sell his home if the road was not fixed, he added.
“I can tell you that there’s a guy right up the road here when I was politicking that said if there wasn’t something done with the road conditions in this district that he would sell his house and move,” Glidewell said. “He was dead serious.”
Glidwell seems to keep an optimistic outlook regarding the road and bridge problems in his district.
“That’s one good thing about the 4th District, we’ve got our challenges, but if we ever get it fixed it will be very rewarding,” he added.
‘Extremely Bad’
Glidewell said he is working to address taxpayers’ concerns about the roads and bridges but said the county is dealing with budget problems.
“We’ve got to get the hole in the bottom of the bathtub where the money’s draining out stopped before we’ll have any money to work,” Glidewell said. “I would say the biggest drain on the county funding now is without a doubt the correctional facility deficit.”
He just took office in January for his first term and said he is making road and bridge repair a priority. He wants to fix two bridges first because they present safety concerns.
“I’ll say they’ll be at the top of the list as far as urgency to get fixed,” he said.
On the tour, Glidewell used words such as “awful, extremely bad and unsafe” to describe infrastructure in his district. He pointed out one intersection where the road had deteriorated “down to the dirt in several places.”
‘When Are You Going to Fix These Roads?’
The biggest problems are in the western part of his district, such as in the Kossuth area. When he was campaigning last summer, people on the east side of the district were less concerned about roads than those who lived on the west side.
When he would speak to residents on the western side of District 4 they would ask, “’When are you going to fix these roads?”’ Glidewell said.
There is not an easy answer to that question, officials say.
As soon as his truck left the 4th District and entered the 3rd District the roads got much smoother.
Glidewell thinks one road in his district, County Road 510, could be one of the worst roads in the state and needs an overlay.
Vehicles that repeatedly drive on bumpy roads require extra maintenance, Glidewell said, adding, “It actually enforces the speed limit, but not in a good way.”
Crack in Bridge Beam
Glidewell also pointed out a wooden beam on a bridge that was cracked.
“This is a very unsafe bridge,” he said as he stood underneath the structure on County Road 632.
And a bridge on County Road 510 has rusted and bent pilings, he said. That bridge “definitely” needs to be replaced, said Johnny Crotts, who works for the county’s engineering firm.
Glidewell hopes to use funds through the Mississippi Office of State Aid Road Construction to overlay County Road 510 and replace the bridge on that road. The county is expected to soon get word on state-aid road funding allocations. Roads that get those funds must be developed to state standards.
But it is unclear when work could actually begin on County Road 510 or the bridge.
As far as the bridge with the cracked beam, officials say that could either be paid for with county dollars or another pot of state money. That bridge would be repaired while the other one would be completely replaced, officials said.
Glidewell hopes the cracked beam can be addressed in the next year and said the bridge has a low traffic count.
In addition to these major problems, there are other roads scattered throughout his district that need to be addressed, he said. Those would likely need to be fixed with county dollars, he said. The county money only goes so far after paying for labor, fuel and materials.
Should County Do Overlays In House?
The county contracts out overlay work, but there has been discussion of buying some equipment and doing it in-house, he said.
“I think it’s the only way we can probably get a whole lot of roads done,” Glidewell said. “I worry about the expertise.”
Meanwhile, the county continues to struggle with major budget issues dealing with solid waste, 911 and the correctional facility.
“We’ve got some ideas on how to fix a couple of those but how quick the money starts coming back to our general fund will depend on how quickly we get these other problems fixed,” Glidewell said. “It will continue to pull money out of our general fund that we use for roadwork if we don’t get them fixed . . .”
The county needs more industry so there will be more tax dollars to maintain infrastructure, he added.
He still plans some roadwork in the western part of District 4 this year.
“It may be very limited as to how much, but we will do some roadwork,” Glidewell said.
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