Grape Creek Residents Frustrated with Road Reconstruction Setbacks

Renovations of Grape Creek Road have halted due to heavy rains in June. The project includes repaving the road, applying concrete over the drainage ditch, and extending the curve in front of Dollar General. Grape Creek Road is the heaviest traveled road in Grape Creek. 

“I was really excited when it was announced that the road was going to be repaired,” Grape Creek resident Amber Byers Clark said. “I drive that road everyday going to work. I was happy with the quality of work until it was left unfinished. The divots in the road have increasingly gotten worse, and they are deep enough to see down to the dirt that they so carefully leveled out for us. I'm disappointed that it's been so long untouched.”

Not only has the rain set back progress on the road, but it also helped in damaging it.

“The idea was to try to get ahead of the project a little bit, so they didn’t get all of the pavement down before the rains hit,” County Commissioner Rick Bacon said. “As a result, all of the traffic on that road with the turns in and out of the Dollar General area has created some additional pot holes.”

Clark said that she would be interested in seeing the rain records for the time period and cross-checking to see if the records prove that the rains halted construction. She also stated that her husband told her that holes were being filled on the road Thursday.

“I believe that we had more rain while they were working than we have had since they stopped,” Clark said.

Bacon claimed that Reece Albert Construction will continue with the project next week. The company plans to start work on the drainage ditch first. The cement trucks necessary for the job would tear the road up even more if construction started on the ditch after the road was repaved. Therefore, the paving will most likely start around a week after work on the ditch is finished.

According to Bacon, the rains caused the drainage ditch to fill up with water. Before crews can begin to cement the ditch, the crews had to wait for the water to recede and for the ditch to dry out.

“Finally, we’ve gotten a break with a little bit dryer weather, so it’s allowing it to dry out so they can get in there and excavate some dirt and replace it with cement,” Bacon said.

Additionally, the area has received increased oil field traffic; the truck’s wear on the road is what created the need for repairs in the first place. However, the county received around $450,000 in grant money from the state in order to repair roads damaged by this oil field traffic.

“My fellow commissioners were gracious,” Bacon said. “Instead of us having to split that out in these small projects across the county, they allowed me to take that entire amount and apply it to Grape Creek Road.”

Expanding the curve in front of Dollar General and a few additional businesses has been another facet of the project. That particular piece of road is right off of US 87. The combination of the narrowness of the road and people entering and exiting the parking lot has been causing fender benders and various traffic issues. The curve in question has been extended, but it has not yet been fully paved.

Other residents of Grape Creek were less than impressed with the progress on the road.

“Before they fixed it, it was an old road, but quality-wise, it wasn’t too bad,” Grape Creek Resident Sonia Ramirez said. “After they came and stripped everything up and laid down the new road, it’s horrible.”

Ramirez pointed out that Grape Creek Road is the main road into the town. In order to take an alternate route, one would have to go a good deal out of the way.

“There’s major potholes and all the traffic cones are still up,” Ramirez said. “It doesn’t look finished. The bad quality of the road gives Grape Creek a bad image, and it makes traveling into Grape Creek harder.”

Ramirez cited a public service announcement from Grape Creek Intermediate School from April 25; the announcement claimed construction would run through the next six weeks starting from that date.

“Construction began during the school year; why not wait until summer is over?” Ramirez asked.

According to Bacon, the rains set the project back two months.

“Had we not encountered the rain, that project probably would’ve already been completed,” noted Bacon.

If all goes well, Bacon hopes to have the project completed by the end of July, or the first part of August. Furthermore, Bacon has plans in next year’s budget to do about a mile to a mile and a half of additional resurfacing.

“We are doing the best we can with what nature gives us,” Bacon said. “Our whole purpose is to try to make that area as safe as possible and get it completed as soon as possible.”