On some Franklin County roads, it’s smooth sailing.
Others, not so much. According to VDOT’s Todd Daniel, the county has nearly 90 miles of unpaved secondary roads, often a source of headaches.
“They require continual maintenance for potholes, roughness, right down to dust,” he said.
Tuesday, Franklin County took a step to fix at least some of those headaches. The county board of supervisors approved the latest version of its secondary six-year plan. The plan, developed in conjunction with VDOT, lays out the county’s priorities for secondary road maintenance, mostly paving projects.
In total, almost $2 million dollars is earmarked for the list approved Tuesday.
“The board actually selects,” Daniel said about the projects. “We give them data, and have a conversation with them back and forth, and they set the priority.”
The plan is updated annually. This year’s version added Red Valley Road and Bar Ridge Road to the paving list. Other projects, including a new bridge over the Pigg River on Route 718, are also included.
Daniel says Franklin County is in the middle of the pack when it comes to unpaved roads; some surrounding counties, like Henry, hardly have any. Others have hundreds of miles.
“I think that’s a product of just prior practice, or just how many unpaved roads were in the given county,” he said.
