Board Approves Road Maintenance Work Program

For Immediate Release: Thursday, June 25, 2009

At its June 23 meeting, the Washington County Board of Commissioners approved an annual road maintenance work program that represents about one-fourth less work than in prior years. Declining gas tax revenue and increasing materials costs are reducing the county's ability to provide road maintenance services. Roadway users will likely notice a reduction in road services, especially on rural local roads, as there are fewer employees and less equipment to get to the work done.

The Washington County Board of Commissioners guides development of the annual work program through the Road Maintenance Prioritization Policy adopted in Policy 21 of the Transportation Plan. Roads in the major roadway system are the highest general maintenance priority. Maintenance of local roads is a lower priority because they carry less traffic and serve fewer residents.

Road Operations and Maintenance Manager Dave Schamp notes that the county is largely meeting the road maintenance needs in the urban area, with the exception of landscape maintenance, which is identified as a low priority. The voter-approved Major Streets and Transportation Improvements Program (MSTIP) funding for capital projects and the voter-approved Urban Road Maintenance District (URMD) funding for maintenance of urban local streets both contribute to the overall road maintenance success in the urban area. However, rural road needs remain a challenge.

The approved work program includes paving or sealing less than 60 miles of roadway. (See work program summary.) To view the work program document or to find out if a particular road is scheduled for road maintenance in the 2009-2010 fiscal year, visit the Washington County Roads Web site at www.wc-roads.com and click on Annual Maintenance Projects.

For more information about county road maintenance, please call (503) 846-ROAD (846-7623) or e-mail [email protected].

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