RAMP to fund several road projects in Dale County

Of those projects, nine are Dale County road resurfacing projects, including Dale County Road 114 (Old Highway 134) in Daleville and Dale County Road 1 in Level Plains.

Dale County District 2 Commissioner Steve McKinnon said the road resurfacing projects will greatly benefit the community.

"We're getting $5.2 million to work with it, (which will) improve our roadways and makes transportation better," McKinnon said. "It improves everything for the citizens here."

Dale County Commissioners applied for the road resurfacing projects earlier this year and in April, Bentley signed a bill establishing RAMP into law. 

RAMP was established as an alternative to the Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program (ATRIP), which requires counties to match 20 percent of the total funding for a project.

Under RAMP, counties and cities are eligible to receive up to $4 million in federal funds and up to $1 million in state funds without matching. 

In addition, ALDOT would sell bonds to future state gasoline tax recipients to provide the matching funds for participating counties. However, counties participating in RAMP must have no prior or only limited projects utilizing ATRIP funds.

McKinnon said the RAMP program was a much better alternative for the county than ATRIP.

"If we had went with ATRIP, we would have had to pay 20 percent matching funds," McKinnon said. "To acquire those matching funds we would have to do a bond issue to borrow the money. We would be using our gas tax money to payback the matching funds on the ATRIP that we normally use to maintain roads. If we had done a 10 year bond issue, we would of been really short on funds to do our general maintenance for that length of time."

In order to get the RAMP funds, county engineers had to submit a project plan proposal to ALDOT, an advisory committee and Bentley for review.  

“If the engineering department doesn’t write the plan correct, it’s not accepted by the state,” McKinnon said. “Our engineering department did a great job. Everything we submitted was accepted.”

Dale County Engineer Derek Brewer said the county applied for the roads with the highest traffic count and demand considering only federal routes qualify for ATRIP or RAMP program aid. 

“It has to be a federal route,” Brewer said. “Ninety percent of city streets don’t meet those requirements.”

The improvement on Dale County Road 114 from Hwy 85 West to the dead end will cover 1.4 miles at a cost of $231,000. 

Brewer said the section of road has not been resurfaced in more than 18 years, and is greatly in need of maintenance.

“Current plant mix only last about 13-14 years,” Brewer said. “Fourteen years is about maximum life on plant mix or blacktop.”

The resurfacing on Dale County Road 1 will run from State Road 92 North to State Road 248 (Rucker Boulevard) cover 3.9 miles at a cost of $523,000.

Brewer said Dale County Road 1 is very cracked and the particular section of the road will need to be resurfaced and blacktopped. The road was last resurfaced about 13-14 years ago.

Brewer said it is critical to get both roads complete because they are highly used routes.

“Dale County 1 Road is a good connector route,” he said. “It goes from Rucker Boulevard all the way down to Highway 84. That’s got the most traffic on it.”

However, Brewer said Dale County roads are still high on the list of road grades within the state.

“We ride with the ALDOT every year and all our roads are given a grade and we’re normally fifth or sixth in the state, consistently, for the past 14-15 years,” he said.

Brewer said the projects are still in the planning stages and there is no specific timeframe when the projects will commence. He said for each project it usually takes about a year from the planning stages until the blacktop is finished.

“I’m thinking all of the projects (together) will probably take five years to get them all done,” he said. “But once the wheel gets rolling it’s going to happen. (Everyone) just has to be patient.”