Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: March 16, 2008

For years, Bedford County has compiled a list of close to 40 unpaved secondary roads waiting to get added to a six-year plan for road improvements.
However, current funding within the Virginia Department of Transportation for those roads recently took a drastic hit, said Bob Sutton, Bedford’s VDOT residency administrator.
A reduction of more than 40 percent to secondary road funds over the next six years would allow only a single unpaved road to get paved over the next few years. It also cuts a six-year plan with 15 projects in half. 
“If you do the math, it would take 120 years to pave all those roads,” said Sutton.
As Sutton revealed the money shortfall to Bedford’s board of supervisors last week, he said the first three years within the six-year plan is all that can remain for now.
That eliminates at least half a dozen secondary road projects and further defers the waiting list that has at least 30 unpaved projects.
“I can’t tell you how much this disturbs me in meeting growing needs of the county,” Sutton told supervisors. “It’s very frustrating for us and I’m sure for you, too.”
State funding for secondary, primary and urban roads has been on the decline over the past 10 years. A decade ago, Sutton said Bedford had $1 million at its disposal for unpaved roads each year.
Now it’s around $200,000.
Starting July 1, VDOT will face more than a 40-percent reduction in funds for secondary roads over the next six years. Sutton said that would slash Bedford’s portion for unpaved roads to roughly $150,000.
Bedford contains 900 miles of secondary roads; roughly 250 of them are unpaved, Sutton said.
Annie Pollard, the Montvale District supervisor whose area in the western end of the county has the most unpaved roads, said she feels the state has forgotten rural areas when it comes to transportation.
“The road situation is bad,” Pollard said. “The state has really let us down.”
She herself lives on a road that is unpaved, but said she is more concerned about the people who have pleaded for improvements for years now that most probably won’t see.
Several residents in Pollard’s district showed up at a public hearing in November and described the conditions on their bumpy, dusty roads. One person said his church was losing members due to it and another said the dust his road generates damages his car.
“People come year after year,” Sutton said. “They have valid requests for road improvements and they’re right … it’s frustrating not being able to accommodate them. That reflects on us.”
Pollard said there isn’t a lot county officials can do in the matter except lobby for their constituents’ needs. She said she plans to do that with state legislators as well as write letters to federal transportation officials.
“We have to let people in the state know that’s unacceptable.”