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By Fred Guarino

The Lowndes Signal

In response to a complaint about the ADECA (Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs) paving project on Debeck Road, Lowndes County Engineer David Butts said, “The only thing we can do is pave it as quick as we possibly can.”

The Signal received a complaint about the project through its Facebook page from a resident who reported that a garbage truck was stuck twice and that the road was left untravelable almost every night. The resident also said they were unable to get out of their drive onto the road more than one morning and suggested the county is dragging its feet on the project.

In response to a Signal inquiry regarding the complaint, Butts said Debeck Road is about 3/4 of a mile long. He said the county began clearing on the road around May 16th.

He said, “We have been clearing, putting up fence, hauling base and compacting base in that order since we been up there. We work four days a week and 10 hours a day.”

Butts said an incident regarding a truck getting stuck was “last week when we got a heavy rain.” He said, “The County was there to pull the truck out and we bladed the slick part of the road off and everyone was able to travel the road by 8 a.m.”

Butts also denied laughing about the complaint.

He said, “Building a road involves dirt and gravel. Anytime that you mix a hard rain with dirt and gravel, you are going to deal with those issues. I wish we could do something to avoid it but we can’t. The only thing we can do is pave it as quick as we possibly can. And that’s what we are trying to do.”

The Lowndes County Highway Department is doing the roadbed stabilization for the paving project on Debeck Road.