Iron County Road Commission Problems (1)

Recently I had complimented the Iron County
Road Commission for having done a good job
of maintenance grading Kallio Road. They
did the job right for the first time in
years by putting the proper crown back in
the road, and not building berms that keep
rainwater in the road, making it muddy even
after a light summer rain, and keeping spring
snowmelt runoff on the road that's a real mess
far too long into the season.

Unfortunately my congratulations on getting it
right was premature. They've regraded the road
and got it wrong again. The photo below, 4 July
2009, shows the brand new berms created by the
most recent maintenance work.

This isn't a difficult thing, grading a gravel
road. You get the results shown in the photo
below by turning the grader blade the wrong way,
as though the operator were plowing snow. To
grade a gravel road properly the blade must be
turned the other way, to move sand and gravel
away from the edges of the road towards the
middle, in order to create a proper crown that
assures water runoff instead of water retention.

Could we please, please, get the appropriate
training for the people sent out to do this work?


There's just no excuse for what's been going on
with Iron County's gravel roads for the past
several years.




Bill Vajk