Lacking Proper Funding for Maintenance, States Turn Some Paved Roads to Gravel
This story appears in the Sept. 9 print edition of Transport Topics.
In another sign of the drastic actions many states are taking to deal with shortages in road funding, Texas has begun turning 83 miles of paved roads to gravel.
Texas Department of Transportation officials said that without new funding they cannot afford to maintain asphalt roads that are deteriorated, most of which are in the newer oil and gas development areas.
“Our job is to provide the drivers with safe roads,” TxDOT Executive Director Phil Wilson said in an Aug. 28 statement. “We believe our plan to potentially convert . . . significantly damaged roads in the energy sector is the safe and sensible solution with TxDOT’s available funding.”
The state on Aug. 19 started turning two road segments to gravel. One section is on the frontage road along Interstate 37 in Live Oak County, TxDOT spokesman Mark Cross said. The other is a state route known as FM1916 in Dimmit County.
The Legislature did not raise revenue for transportation needs, leaving few options but to downgrade to gravel, Texas Trucking Association President John Esparza said.
“We’ve just run out of options, and they didn’t increase the fuel tax or come up with some clever way to put new dollars into our infrastructure program,” Esparza said. “We’re at this point where we’re just critically behind the eight-ball, frankly, and pavement to gravel is a great example of how.”
The Texas announcement followed one by Pennsylvania transportation officials, who said they plan to post new or higher weight restrictions on 1,100 bridges because state lawmakers and Gov. Tom Corbett (R) did not agree on a new funding plan this year.
Dwindling infrastructure investment at the federal and state levels, and opposition to higher taxes in Congress and state houses have taken an increasingly heavy toll on the nation’s aging infrastructure.
More than 151,500 of its 607,300 bridges are labeled deficient, and the Federal Highway Administration said the country would have to spend $20.5 billion every year between now and 2028 to upgrade them while current spending is only $12.8 billion annually.
Converting asphalt roads to gravel in order to deal with scarce funds is not unique to Texas.
Michigan took the same dire approach a few years ago as 38 counties converted 100 miles of asphalt to gravel in 2008 and 2009. Today, the trend continues.
“Nearly half of Michigan’s 83 counties have now returned roads to gravel because they do not have the revenue for reconstruction,” said Monica Ware, spokeswoman for the County Road Association of Michigan.
The Michigan State Department of Transportation also is struggling with a lack of bridge funding, MDOT spokesman Jeff Cranson said.
“What it means to us is we spend a lot more money and time on temporary supports, emergency repairs, and other nonscheduled, nonroutine work to ensure the structures are safe for public travel,” Cranson said.
Back in Texas, once the state started turning roads into gravel, local officials and some legislators began to complain, leading TxDOT to say it would hold off for 60 days to allow local officials to explore other solutions.
Texas lawmakers had a regular session this year, then three special sessions before they agreed to put a measure on the November 2014 ballot asking voters if they want to divert some oil and gas tax revenue to roads.
However, TxDOT has said that the measure, if passed, would produce less than $1 billion of the $4 billion in new funds needed annually to maintain roads. In addition, Texas lawmakers meet only every other year, so they will not be in session again until 2015.
Speed limits will be reduced to as low as 35 mph on some of the gravel roads, making travel slower for trucks, and dust on gravel roads will present environmental issues, Esparza said.
“For trucking, it’s the pro-pensity for chronic windshield problems and busted lights,” he added. “There’s a lot of issues that come with gravel rather than fixing these roads correctly.”
