No more paving this year, Winston County Commission says

DOUBLE SPRINGS       -  Rosco has reached the end of the road in Winston County.
Rosco is the name of the Winston County Road Department’s chip spreader, which is currently down for the count in need of parts or to be replaced.   This means the Winston County Commission is  facing a dilemma on how to pave roads while desperately needing equipment and no equipment is available.
For years, the commission had equipment to repave roads, but did not have the funding to do it. Now that the county has received funds under the Rebuild Alabama Act from gas tax proceeds, they are facing equipment and contractor shortages.
These latter factors led Winston County Commissioner David Cummings to announce during the commission’s regular meeting Tuesday, Aug. 29, that no more roads could be paved by the county for the remainder of this paving season until the commission agrees on what to do.
Cummings’ comments came as Chairman Roger Hayes noted the next item on the road department’s agenda related to purchasing a chip spreader machine.

“We have reached the end of the road,” Cummings began. “We have no where to go in getting our (machine) fixed.  It’s unrepairable. Until we make a decision on what we’re going to do, we just can’t get (the roads) paved.”
Cummings suggested the commission use funding they received from the American Rescue Plan Act to purchase a new machine.
“Until we get this piece of machinery, you can’t hire a contractor,” Cummings continued.
“We need to discuss this further,” responded Hayes. “I am not ready to make a decision on this today.”
“A lot of our roads are in such bad condition that we have to grind the road up.  We really need a chip spreader before we can put down any hot mix or anything else,” stressed County Road Engineer James Glasgow.
Cummings said he has been searching for three years for a chip spreader, but cannot find one.  The county has had its Rosco since around 2006, according to Glasgow.
Glasgow gave a list of over a dozen roads that cannot be completed due to the current situation. These roads include County Road 445 near Haleyville; County Roads 15 and 55 in the Ashridge area; County Roads 107 and 4 near Double Springs; the north section of County Road  99 near Addison;  County Road 3078 in Double Springs;  Little Dismal Road and County Roads 3964, 3948 and 3949 in Arley;  County Road 339 near Lynn; County Road 385 in the Nauvoo area; County Road 3502 near Delmar and Chickakee Road in Haleyville.