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Beaufort County dirt-roads plan limited by right-of-way and 'tag' funds, committee told
Summary
Committee heard that about 65–66 miles of dirt roads remain in the county, but only roughly 12–14 miles are currently candidates for paving due to right-of-way and property consent issues; tag funds limit progress to roughly one mile per year.
Rusty Bratz, Beaufort County engineering project manager, briefed the Transportation Committee on the county's dirt-roads program and next steps for specific projects.
Bratz said engineers have received permitting and expect erosion-control work to begin around April 1 on a project called Dolphin Watch and that other projects (Davis and Floyd; James D. Washington) are moving through permitting and design. "The DOT has the permits have been received. Final plans completion, this was last week, so it's about a week away," he said.
Committee members asked how a resident could request a dirt road be paved. Bratz said the county uses a previously compiled five-year plan to prioritize work and explained that property-rights issues limit the county's ability to accept many dirt roads. "There's only, like, 65 miles of dirt road, 66 miles of dirt road left in Beaufort County. And if my memory serves me correctly, 54 miles of it have issues," he said, adding that "there's only probably no more than 12 or 14 miles of dirt roads that the county can even take action on and pave."
Bratz described the program's funding limits: county "tag" funds provide roughly $1.5 million to $2 million annually and paving two lanes costs in the order of $1.25 million, so in practice the program typically funds roughly one mile of two-lane pavement per year when funds are available.
Members who said they had submitted signed petitions for paving (right-of-way authorizations) were told staff would bring the program's multi-year schedule and the out-years projection to the next meeting so members could review where their requests appear on the five-year plan.
Ending: Staff committed to provide the committee with the out-year program list, showing which dirt-road projects are scheduled, funding assumptions and right-of-way status.
