Published: July 31, 2008 11:25 pm         

City plans to place crushed rock on 48 miles of unpaved Enid roads

A city project will improve drainage and eventually place crushed rock on nearly 50 miles of unpaved roads that have been neglected for many years.

Jerry Crawford, department supervisor for streets and traffic control for the city of Enid, said specific areas have been selected for work. Neglect has resulted in a number of drainage problems and some deterioration of roadways, he said.

“We go in and establish drainage first. We’re digging out the ditches so they flow,” he said.

Then, crews remove material, mostly sand, from roads and reshape them. Crawford said thousands of tons of material have been removed from roads and hauled to the city landfill. When a road is shaped up, workers place one-inch to inch-and-a-half of crushed rock on it. The rock is filled with a material that helps it pack and makes a good road, Crawford said. Then it is graded.

“Before, the residents had mud roads, and now they are rocked,” he said.

Crawford said the city has paved 5.5 miles with the crushed rock this year. Officials hope to cover five miles to 10 miles each year and have identified 48 miles of roads to complete.

“We’re working on the worst drainage areas, the most number of houses on the road and the most traveled roads first,” he said. “Those are a priority.”

For many years these unpaved roads had only been graded, Crawford said, and had sand added to them as part of the maintenance schedule. Rock holds up better and will not wash away like sand, he said. However, if ditch lines are not done first the project would not work, he said. They also place culverts in driveways along the roads to help water flow.

“Drainage is the very first thing we have to do. There are so many miles with no drainage at all. It’s been 15 to 20 years since some roads have been touched. You can imagine how many thousands of tons we’ve hauled off,” Crawford said.

The sand is filled with weeds and impurities and is not good for any type of construction. City crews take it to the landfill, where it is used for cover and saves the city money.

“This is something we really need to do,” he said.