Screen shot.The skyrocketing price of gravel is making it difficult for rural Woodbury County, Iowa to maintain its gravel roads, KCAU-TV reports. The $1.3 million the county spent on gravel in 2017 was only enough to maintain roads in their current conditions, but not make any improvements.
“We would need 2 million tons of gravel to bring our roads back into that [ideal] condition, where we have a 5- to 7-inch base out there,” says County Engineer Mark Nahra, according to the news agency. “And 2 million tons would cost us in the neighborhood of $12 million.”
Woodbury County Supervisor Rocky Dewitt told the news agency that the secondary roads department is on top of things.
“The worst roads are going to get it first, and then there’s always going to be the spot repairs where needed,” he says. “We’re always going to have some repairs that are needed, but I think our secondary roads department is on top of it.”
The county is looking at possibly developing its own gravel plant to reduce costs, but that could take a few years.
