Feb. 16, 2012
Garrett County Roads Department personnel discussed the deteriorating condition of Lower New Germany and Westernport roads with the Garrett County commissioners last Tuesday. Repairing those roads could cost millions of dollars.
A recent video taken from the passenger’s side of a vehicle traveling on Westernport and Lower New Germany roads was shown.
“We have an extreme amount of damage occurring to these two roads,” Moyer said.
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He indicated there are two things adding to their demise: heavy truck traffic traveling to and from coal mines, and unusual winter weather cycles in which road surfaces keep freezing and thawing.
“When that occurs, it also causes deterioration to the underlying clay that’s underneath the road,” Moyer said. “It softens it up, makes the road surface flexible.”
The video showed repair work under way on a section of Westernport Road. Crews had to remove the crumbling asphalt, excavate several feet below the road surface, and rebuild/stabilize the underlying strata, before new pavement could be reapplied.
“They have to dig down to as solid ground as possible, and then they use a mixture of riff-raff and crusher-run stone to try to tighten that up and seal that in,” Moyer said.
He noted, however, that a major problem with maintaining roads right now is asphalt and bituminous concrete cannot be purchased this time of the year.
“So, we’re using what’s called cold mix, which is not the best thing to use this time of year for patching,” Moyer said. “It’s just a temporary fix.”
The superintendent noted that in 2008, the county paved the entire 18 miles of Westernport Road at a cost of $493,754.
“That’s materials only,” he stressed. “That does not include equipment and labor.”
Since 2008, because of constant truck traffic, the Roads Department has spent another $76,700 in repairs to Westernport Road, including patching and drainage work, according to Moyer.
County engineer Dwight Emory estimates the cost of bringing Westernport and Lower New Germany roads up to actual “coal-hauling” standards at $9 million. The only road in the county that currently meets that standard is Wilson Road, which was developed and is maintained by Mettiki Coal.
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