Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Road Maintenance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Supervisors ask staff to explore road‑maintenance outreach and state HURF formula concerns
Summary
Board members asked public works for a county‑maintenance map and asked staff to pursue a change to the state Highway User Revenue Fund formula to better account for rural lane miles and maintenance burden.
Supervisors and public works staff discussed county‑maintained road boundaries, possible public outreach materials, and concerns that Arizona’s state road‑funding formula disadvantages rural counties.
Jason Fazio and other staff said Cochise County already posts maintenance information on its GIS web pages but agreed a simple downloadable pamphlet or PDF that shows which roads the county maintains and an explanation of grading schedules would help residents who frequently call the office.
Board members raised the county’s difficulty in competing with larger counties for Highway User Revenue Fund (HURF) dollars, saying population‑based distributions can leave rural counties with many miles of road and relatively small roadway use revenue. Staff suggested exploring a Title 28 amendment or a formula change to include a mileage or maintained‑miles factor so rural counties can better support chip sealing and other treatments.
Fazio said staff will work with supervisors to draft suggested formula changes and identify pilot roads where alternative treatments — such as engineered chip seals, Permazyme stabilization or targeted culvert work — might yield better long‑term value than repeated grading on unstable surfaces.
Supervisors also asked staff to produce a public‑facing document explaining when a given route is scheduled for grading and the distinction between county, federal and Forest Service roads. That document would be posted on the county public‑works page and used in responses to resident inquiries.
