Trying to save money with gravel roads

CALHOUN COUNTY, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - Budget problems are leading to controversy in Calhoun County and other counties around West Michigan.

The controversy has to do with turning paved roads back to gravel to save money. In Calhoun County, the reversion has only happened on Division Drive between Emmett and Newton Townships so far, but others are being assessed for the switch to small stones.

In Calhoun or any other county, it's really all about the money. The county has turned one mile-and-a-half stretch of road back to gravel.

In Montcalm County, they've turned ten miles back to gravel and put the ground asphalt into bottles and sent them to state lawmakers as a protest, saying that crumbling roads need money. The irony is that literally crumbling the roads saves money.

In Calhoun, Division Drive has changed its face, sporting gravel where pavement once was. It's a change that Carl McGhee, who lives on Division, doesn't like.

"I'm concerned about everything from it," said McGhee, "I've never had allergies in my life and this year, I'm terrible with allergies and I'm starting to think it's from the dusty road."

McGhee and others think Division Drive could be renamed 'Dusty Drive,' and the ride looks rough in some stretches. However, going back to gravel only cost the county $5,000 where repaving could have cost $150,000, something most county road commissions can't afford.

"That's really the only cost effective alternative for us, we simply cannot patch all the roads we have out there, we don't have the people, we don't have the material," said Kevin Henning of the Calhoun County Road Commission.

Calhoun County has 1,300 miles of road, and signs point to many rough patches, but current taxes aren't funding road commissions adequately, and that seems unlikely to change, thus the switch to gravel.

A state gas tax hike could raise money, but lawmakers would probably balk at voting such a tax up. Still, the County Roads Association of Michigan insists that something is needed.

"When looking at the statistics that are out there in terms of the conditions that the roads are going out to, the trends that are occurring in transportation funding, the two major sources of funding that provide revenue, the road commission's fuel tax and vehicle registration are declining and their costs are increasing," said John Niemela director of the County Roads Association of Michigan.

It looks like gravel could be a 19^th century way to save 21^st century dollars.

"We're not out there turning any more back to gravel, we're just assessing what is our long-term plan," said Henning, "if the recent transportation funding doesn't get put through where are we going to be in three years, where are we going to be in five years, and right now it looks like we're going to have a lot more gravel roads."

Currently about a quarter of all Michigan counties are changing some paved roads back to gravel.