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Signs that appeared over the weekend in northern Lowndes County point to the area’s poor road conditions and allege responsibility rests in the hands of District 1 Commissioner Robert Harris.

The bright yellow signs were noticed Saturday posted at nearly every dirt road intersection along U.S. Highway 80. The posters, humorous with satire and a minor spelling error, point residents to call Harris to “thank” him for current road conditions.

“Like these awful roads? Thank County ‘Comisioner’ Robert Harris (334) 412-7415.” the signs read.

Parker Horne lives in the area where signs appeared and shared a photo of one posted near the St. Clair Grocery in the Facebook group “Lowndes County, AL news/watch/info.” The post gained traffic from several citizens claiming first-hand experience with the poor road conditions found throughout the district.

“The roads are pretty bad up here,” Horne said. “North of Highway 80 is way worse than south of Highway 80. Harris has gotten better about fixing the dirt roads, but when it comes to the paved roads, they are bad.

“Whoever put those signs out, I’m glad they did because its like an act of Congress to get Harris to answer the phone and when he does answer, he would rather argue with you that he’s doing everything he can. Our roads have gotten worse every day for years. He tells us he will do something that he will never do and when he does, half the time [road crews] have to come back and redo it because it’s so bad.”

“All complaints we get, we try to address them in a timely manner,” Harris said. “We’ve got a whole county, but not a lot of people. We have a lot of different projects going on, so we try to address [issues] as fast as we can.” 

One former resident described his own experiences with the paved roads of Lowndes County in a reply to Horne’s social media post. He pointed to mismanagement of available tax dollars as part of the problem.

“Although a native of Lowndes County, I don’t live in Lowndes County but visit quite regularly,” commented David Coker. “The paved roads are in horrible condition due to very poor maintenance and the dirt roads likewise. The county tax base does not allow for the best of roads but the wise and efficient use of the funds that are available must be top priority of the county government.”

According to Harris, oil and gas tax revenue is earmarked for road repairs.

“We’re using the money we have to try to address [road conditions],” Harris said. “We can only use certain monies for certain things. Oil and gas tax is the one that we mostly use to repair the roads.

“If people are not spending money here in the county, then that’s less money we can use. Then we have to wait on the state and the federal government so we can get [grant] funding for roads.”

Horne said poor road conditions caused broken axels on two of his trailers this summer. He talks with Harris frequently, but has seen only patches, not much-needed repaving in northern Lowndes County.

“When I can get Harris on the phone, I’ve had some pretty tough conversations and I’ve had some really good conversations,” Horne said. “A few months ago, I called him up [about a dirt road] and he got it fixed. But when it comes to the actual paved roads, that’s a whole different story.”

The cost for one load of asphalt is $2,500, Harris explained. One load covers only a few yards of pavement, so road crews are tasked with patching areas needing repairs because low tax revenue will not support needed resurfacing, he added.

Harris also said resurfacing projects, like the one planned for Highway 29 in Lowndesboro, are prioritized by traffic. Roads like Brown Hill Road, he said, have deteriorated due to heavy truck traffic, which they are not designed to handle.

According to Horne, road crews have tried to correct damage on Brown Hill Road, without success. Lowndes County Road 40, Robinson Swiss Road, is so badly damaged Horne said it is a danger to motorists.

“They attempt to fix it, but they make it worse,” Horne said. “Half the time, potholes become sinkholes. All the way to the Montgomery County line it’s just patch job after patch job.”

Comments added to Horne’s Facebook post claimed roads in District 2, represented by Commission Chairman Charlie King, Jr., were as bad as those in District 1. King, unaware of the social media dialogue, said he had no complaints which had not been addressed.

“I have had no complaints,” King said. “I asked my operator to report to me and no one has led me or called and complained to the office.”

Both Harris and King urged citizens to let them know about roads in need of repair. The identity of the person responsible for posting the signs remains unknown.