Roads were a discussion priority when the Winn Parish Police Jury got together for its regular March session Monday.  

Road superintendent Perry Holmes reported that work is being done on bushhogs and tractors to have them in good running order as spring arrives with warmer, drier weather.  He added that they will likely need a mechanic to come in to install computers on some machines and said that should not be too expensive.

The parish had been having difficulty obtaining gravel for road maintenance but at a previous meeting, Holmes reported that a source had been located.  Monday night he told the lawmakers that the jury has a driver and the supply is such that “we can now have the rocks available on demand.”

One concern raised by jurors in committee session and again at their March meeting is the inefficiency and lost time when a grader operator is called off of a scheduled maintenance to work on another road elsewhere.  Holmes explained that there are four graders working in four sections.  Stanley Garrett suggested that if work is carried out in those sections in a tighter pattern, not so much transport time would be lost and the entire road system might be completed within a month and a half or two.

Holmes agreed, saying perhaps it would only take a month but that would depend on weather and it would also assume that the graders were not diverted to other emergencies.  The jury was also looking at the possibility of GPA monitoring available through Louisiana Machinery for the jury’s Caterpillar equipment so that the parish can monitor their operation and location.

Discussion indicated the jury will work to develop some type of operational strategy.

Also at an earlier committee session, members heard a presentation on a chip-sealing process for roads as a method of adding some life to blacktop roads.  Of the 750 miles of parish roads in Winn, about one-third of them are blacktop built in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  Chip-sealing  could help preserve, “if we already have a base,” said Garrett.  “If we don’t, we’ll lose it.”  Cost of the process is around $100,000 per mile, compared to $700,000 or $800,000 for new asphalt.

Holmes also reported that several FEMA road projects have been completed since the February report.  Included roads are Buddy Bates Road, Lonehill Church Road, Floyd Johnston Road, Doug McCarty Road, McDavid Road and work is under way on the Tom Hudson Road.