2018 Association of County Commissions of Alabama Legislative Conference
Bart Mercer
December 10, 2018
This past week I was a part of the group that represented Elmore County at the annual Legislative Conference of the Association of County Commissions of Alabama (ACCA) held in Montgomery. The annual legislative conference is attended by county officials involved in county government such as County Commissioners, 911 Directors, Revenue Commissioners, Administrators, Engineers, Emergency Managers and other administrative staff.
Each group represented at the conference participated in presentations and discussion about issues that most affect their ability to serve and deliver services to citizens of each of the 67 Alabama counties. The topic most discussed was the challenge of maintaining county roads and bridges. Roads and bridges are a county taxpayers’ largest asset so proper maintenance is vital to protect the large investment.
At the ACCA annual convention held this past August, it was announced that all 67 county engineers would be asked to complete a survey gathering current condition and planned maintenance data on roads and bridges in their county. The results of this data collection effort were presented the conference.
The statewide data collected revealed:
• Alabama counties maintain 60,491 miles of roads with 44,790 miles being paved roads.
• Counties maintain 8,663 bridges.
• Using a standard of resurfacing paved county roads on a 15 year cycle, counties should be resurfacing 2,986 miles of county roads statewide annually, but counties actually only have the resources to resurface 733 miles of roads annually.
• Since 2000 (an 18-year span) of the 44,790 miles of paved county roads statewide, only 21,447 miles (48%) had been resurfaced. This means statewide there are currently 23,343 miles (52%) of the county roads that have not been paved within the last 15-year resurfacing cycle.
• Within the next 5 years Alabama counties have the resources to resurface only 3,663 miles (8%) of the total 41,127 miles of paved roads counties maintain.
• Of the 8,663 bridges maintained by counties, 3,913 bridges (42% of total bridges statewide) are 50 years or older.
• Of the 3,913 bridges that are 50 years or older, over the next 5 years counties have the resources to replace 166 bridges (4% of the bridges needing to be replaced) which means there are 3,747 bridges (96% of the bridges 50 years or older) that need to be replaced.
This survey confirmed what many of us have known. County roads and bridges in Alabama counties are in great need of repair, rehabilitation and replacement. In order to protect the largest investment of taxpayer dollars, ensure safe travel of our citizens throughout our beautiful state, and ensure our state’s road and bridge system is an economic development asset, counties need to continue to urge our federal and state legislators to address the need for additional road and bridge funding.