Going back to gravel

WEST MICHIGAN (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – Roads across West Michigan are being torn up and the pavement turned to gravel because it costs too much money to maintain them properly.

For three years in a row funds for the Transportation Department have been slashed. Those funding cuts have made it impossible for many counties to maintain all their paved roads.

In Kalamazoo County, two and a half miles of road were reverted from pavement to gravel in the past year, and many other counties are being forced to do the same.

“We came home from work one day and our road is dirt,” said Shannon Doxey.

“They came out and just did it, and didn't tell anybody anything,” said Ralph Dailey.

Doxey and Dailey live on a stretch of U Avenue in Wakeshma Township, both say they were surprised to find it had been reverted to gravel one day, and they don't like it.

“A dirt road is a bother,” said Dailey. “Wrecks your suspension, does a lot of damage.”

However, many county road commissions say they don't have a choice. They simply don't have the money to maintain many paved roads. The Michigan Transportation Fund revenue has been cut for three years running; losing four percent in 2008, five percent in 2009 and five percent in 2010, leaving county transportation departments operating at 1998 levels.

Now people like Doxey and Dailey are left with gravel.

“There's pros and cons,” said Doxey. “Our old road was horrible, ruining our vehicles, the potholes were horrible. The cons to this now is it's just so dirty.”

It costs between $90,000 and $105,000 to repave a mile of road, but only $30,000 to revert it to gravel. The annual upkeep for a gravel road is also much less.

Most of the counties Newschannel 3 spoke with said they currently have no plans to revert more roads to gravel, but every county we spoke with said current budget issues means it is a definite possibility.