Turning lanes planned for County Road 63


Gathering together in working toward the project are, from left, Assistant Road Engineer Matt Rouse, Road Engineer James Glasgow, Winston County Commissioner Bobby Everett,  Commission Chairman Roger Hayes, Company Owner Frank Schmidbauer, State Representative Tim Wadsworth, Plant Manager Mal Heaton and State Senator Garlan Gudger.

GRAYSON     -  State legislators met with Winston County  officials at Grayson Lumber Corporation Monday, March 7,  to see first-hand a company access road that has become deteriorated due to heavy truck traffic and erosion, pledging financial assistance to remedy the problem.
“We’re looking at funding $1.2 million,” pointed out State Senator Garlan Gudger, adding this amount would be a combination of state and federal funds.
The project would include turning lanes in both directions on County Road 63 as it turns onto County Road 94, which is a half-mile access road leading to the company. The project also calls for resurfacing 94, state officials said.
The new turning lanes would allow heavy log trucks to turn more safely from 63 onto 94 without having to wait to go to the weigh station, Gudger explained.
“This (project) is such an economic impact for this county, for this region,” Gudger stated.  “We need to be able to take care of our industries that are here locally through our transportation and through Rebuild Alabama.
“We’re identifying grants and identifying pots of money at the state and federal government that we are able to use to make sure this project is successful and this industry is successful in the future,” Gudger pointed out.
“Our road system coming into the sawmill has been here for many years,” noted Frank Schmidbauer, owner of Grayson Lumber. “And just like a lot of our infrastructure around us (it) has been falling apart.”
At least 50 percent of trucks using the access road weigh in excess of 80,000 pounds, just like interstate commerce, company officials pointed out.
“We’re talking about a secondary road on a county system, and that wear and tear is just tearing it apart,” stressed Plant Manager Mal Heaton.

 

 


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