Dirt roads: To pave or not to pave?

To pave or not to pave?

That is the question Beaufort County leaders are trying to answer about roughly 85 miles of dirt roads owned by the county.

Those hoping the dirt road in front of their home will soon be repaved with fresh, smooth asphalt will likely be disappointed in a recent analysis from county engineers that determined paving dirt roadways is not particularly cost-effective.

Engineering director Rob McFee, who presented the analysis to the Beaufort County Transportation Committee last week, said there are essentially three ways to deal with dirt roads:

“The do nothing option, the rock the road option, or the pave the road option.”

That second option — rocking the road — involves putting a layer of stone or gravel over the dirt.

Staff used a complex set of equations to calculate which method would give taxpayers the best bang for their buck, and “stone wins every time,” McFee said. “... There is no question that stone is the best option from a cost standpoint.”

A mile of dirt road cost nearly $9,000 a year to maintain. Rocked roads cost about $900. Paved roads cost nearly $600, according to county estimates.

In an ideal world, “the more roads we pave, the less those roads are putting a burden on the taxpayer annually,” transportation committee treasurer Bob Arundell said.

But while paved roads are less expensive to maintain, they are much more costly to build.

Paving a mile of dirt road costs nearly $500,000, while laying stone along that same mile costs about $80,000, McFee said.

“The initial investment in paving is so big that you just can’t (make it economically feasible) unless you estimate your pavement life out to something unrealistic,” he said.

Transportation committee chairman Kraig Gordon said he doesn’t expect a sudden windfall of cash from the state or federal grants to allow for mass paving of dirt roads.

Even if the money were available, spending it on paving dirt roads may not the wisest use of the funds because many of those roads aren’t densely populated, he said.

“Why are we going to spend $500,000 to pave a road that gets only five or six cars on it per day?” he said. “That’s wasting our money.”

There are, of course, factors other than money involved in deciding whether to pave a dirt road.

McFee acknowledged pavement could improve the quality of life for those who live along a dirt road, saying, “A dirt road gets muddy every time it rains.”

He said county leaders understand that there might be some push-back from dirt road residents if they learn their road will be rocked rather than paved.

“There may be some community dissatisfaction ... due to expectation and perception issues,” he said. “... Folks might (wonder), ‘Well, why isn’t my road getting paved?’ ”

Despite these concerns, McFee told the committee that his recommendation would be to use stone and gravel rather than pavement to improve dirt roads.

The committee will mull its options over the next month before addressing the issue with the Beaufort County Council or making any policy decisions.

This story was originally published July 25, 2016 at 3:09 PM with the headline "Dirt roads: To pave or not to pave?."