How much longer is the rural population of Musselshell Co. going to put up with the terrible conditions of our so-called gravel roads? Any discussion about these conditions is met with the same old answer by Mr. Stockert, who is in charge of the roads, and the County Comissionsers, and that is:
"We have 500 miles of roads to maintain and only $90,000 with which to maintain them, and there is no more gravel available to put on the roads".
I have a suggestion for the above mentioned people. We residents of rural Musselshell Co, realize that we are a poor county and that there is very little good gravel available in the county. I have spoken with neighbors, the UPS, Fed X, and school bus drivers, postmen, and many others who use these roads daily. Granted many of these roads do not have a large number of people living on them, but a careful study of road usage in the county might be very surprising about the amount of usage they do receive. I have come to the conclusion that almost everyone would be satisfied if just the pot holes could be well filled-in and some culverts put in critical areas on a regular basis. The pot holes have gotten so bad that to avoid them, we now drive in the barrow pit a great deal of the time.
Unfortunately just filling the pot holes is not going to solve the long term problem. We need now to seriously think of ways to solve this problem. I contacted Barry Usher, our state representative, about the possibility of state or federal funding; he informed me that the Feds help only for paved roads. Another option is a mill levy for our rural roads which not only need an improved surface, but in many places guard rails and a widening of the road. Clearly there are many areas that are extremely dangerous, e.g. the hill just west of Musselshell on the Old Musselshell Rd. and the curve on Fattig Creek Rd. just south of Otter Rd.
Thirty years ago our rural roads were in much better shape. Could it be because the County Commissioners were paid to get out and view the roads in their district? Is there that much more traffic on the roads today than earlier? Certainly there was more gravel readily available then, even though now there are ranchers who have informed Mr. Stockert that they have some gravel available to the county, not enough for the whole county, but if everyone pitched in, it might help solve part of the problem.
We hear a lot of talk about attracting new industries to our area to provide jobs and broaden our tax base, but who wants to move to an area where the roads are practically impassable during wet weather. Businesses are interested in getting their products to their customers on safe and good roads as soon as possible.
Do our Commissioners have an improvement plan for our roads? If not, why not? They plan for everything else they want in the county. Perhaps the time is now for them to want something done about the deteriorating roads of Musselshell County. Do we need more supervision of our roads and Mr. Stockert? Let's bring our rural roads into the 21st century!
Sincerely,
Kay Bedford
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