Almota

County commissioners Monday morning discussed how bad the Almota Road grade is and what the county could do about the state-owned road.

“The grade is atrocious,” Commissioner Dean Kinzer said.

That segment of county road was turned over to the state in 1991 and is now State Route 194.

Al Gilson, communications manager for the state Department of Transportation eastern region, reported the road will be paved this week. State crews are working on the grade through next Thursday.

Gilson said he is not aware of any other plans for the road.

“We have no plans to rebuild the highway at this time,” Gilson said.

“It’s the hot, heavy downhill truck traffic that pushes that asphalt.”

Kinzer told commissioners that Dan Hart, manager of Almota Elevator Company in Colfax, asked for commissioners’ help.

“There’s a number of people who want SR 194 on the state’s funding radar,” Hart said Monday afternoon. “It’s clearly in need. We would like to see a major rehabilitation funded.”

Hart said the worst part of the road is the grade.

“It never had the proper base for heavy transport,” he said. “It’s a steep, narrow, winding road that also needs safety realignments. It also needs on-going maintenance.”

Hart said he estimates 10,000 to 15,000 semi truck loads go over the road a year - about 300,000 tons of grain hauled on the road - and he said it’s likely higher.

Almota Elevator and PNW Cooperative operate terminals at Almota.

“It’s so rough it’s tearing up the trucks,” Kinzer said. “It’s not getting the maintenance and repairs it should be getting.”

“If no one is coming in the opposite direction, the truckers are pulling into the left lane and tearing up the other lane,” he said. “It’s a serious situation. What can we do?”

Board Chairman Michael Largent said it’s really out of the county’s hands.

“I wonder whether the commissioners should look at this,” he said. “We don’t know what the state’s priorities are. All we know is this segment of highway is impeded.

“The solution for the road is for the state to make it an all-weather road.”

Kinzer said the base of the road was never made for an all-weather road.

Largent said the county will contact the state Department of Transportation to ask for plans for the grade.

Gilson said the annual traffic count average per day in 1991 was 320 and in 2009 increased to 480.

“We’re doing the best we can to maintain the road with the heavy truck traffic that uses it,” Gilson said.

He also said the state legislature controls the transportation department’s budget.

“It’s something our legislature and legislators have to do,” he said.