Each year, members of the Pearl River County Board of Supervisors work with the road department to identify streets in the county in need of immediate repair and maintenance. 

County Administrator Adrain Lumpkin said that this year the county budgeted $1.6 million for the repair of county roads.

To determine where that money will be spent, Lumpkin said supervisors get together to establish a four-year plan where supervisors rank the roads in the county.

The Board then creates a priority list with rankings from one to five. Roads given a ranking of one need immediate attention.

Lumpkin said maintenance costs could vary depending on the materials used for road repairs. The estimated cost of a mile of asphalt is $50,000, whereas a double bituminous surface treatment could cost about $12,000 to $15,000 a mile.

District I Supervisor Donald Hart said at the beginning of this year the Board has also considered the possibility of appointing private contractors to assist the road department to repair county roads.

“It would alleviate some of the strain the road department is going through,” Hart said.

District II Supervisor Malcolm Perry said last year engineers and representatives of the road department toured county roads to identify roads that are in bad shape.

Perry said they took into account the surface condition, drainage, base condition and traffic counts of each road.

He said presently about 30 percent of roads in the county need to be leveled and resurfaced again whereas a few others need a layer of DBST to seal the surface from water intrusion.

“I hope to see about 50-60 miles of road resurfaced,” Perry said.