This reminds me of the comment by Don Briggs of the LA. Oil & Gas Association to the DeSoto Police Jury that he was shocked and surprised that Haynesville Shale related industry traffic had caused extensive damage to the parish road system.  Yeah, right!

August 15, 2011

DeSoto road repair program nears end

By Vickie Welborn
vwelborn@shreveporttimes.com

MANSFIELD — The DeSoto Parish Police Jury is near completion of one of the most ambitious road repair programs it ever has undertaken.

Increased tax revenue and budgeted expenditures have allowed the parish governing body to spend approximately $21 million on road and related improvements, representing 80 different parish roads spread over about 120 miles. Each of the 11 Police Jury districts is touched in some way.

"That's what is either completed or under construction at this time," parish Administrator Steve Brown said. "We're about 80 percent done and should be complete by late September, and we only started in April."

It's not totally surprising the road work is being emphasized this year since it is an election year. Promises to repair roads often are interjected into re-election campaigns or by office seekers.

Then again, the Police Jury, unlike never before, has had to battle deteriorating roads because of the thousands of additional vehicles traversing parish byways either on the exploration or production ends of the Haynesville Shale natural gas play. Substandard parish roads quickly disintegrated, leaving parish residents such as Daniel Wilhelm begging for relief.

Wilhelm showed up for a second time at a recent Police Jury committee meeting to complain about the condition of Red Strong Road. Assurances the road is on an upcoming repair list did little to dissuade Wilhelm of his plans to circulate a petition among his neighbors demanding attention. He shook his head when the road superintendent deemed Red Strong as "passable."

Part of the problem, Police Juror Greg Baker explained, is the three oil and gas companies that are primarily using the road to service their wells have refused to chip in for new asphalt because "they feel the road is in adequate condition." The companies — Chesapeake, Petrohawk, EXCO — are willing, however, to cover maintenance costs.

Wilhelm's complaints about road conditions are not new, but the frequency of citizens showing up at meetings to voice similar displeasure has slowed this year. The Police Jury in December 2009 inked an agreement with the oil and gas companies holding them partly responsible for upkeep of the roads their contractors travel on. While there have been some hiccups along the way — mostly disputes on the percentage of damage companies are assessed when multiple ones use the same road — police jurors have been satisfied with the response.

The Police Jury initially budgeted $14.6 million this year — compared to $10 million in 2010 and $8 million in 2009 — but the total goes over the $20 million mark once related road projects are factored in.

Included in the overall budget are about $1.4 million in drainage repairs to four heavily traveled roads such as White Springs, Red Bluff and Keithville-Kingston paid for by a federal grant. The main focus is on 20 different roads on a priority list, with at least 15 being total reconstruction and the rest overlay.

"We've got the money to do it with; it's just in different funds," Police Jury President Dewayne Mitchell said. "We're getting a lot done this year."

Additionally, an estimated $3.1 million is coming from the various oil and gas companies to cover repairs to at least eight roads, with those projects scheduled to be at the top of next year's list, Brown said.

"Almost all of the rest of the money is coming from Police Jury funds," Brown said.

The Police Jury is able to see more roads repaired, Brown said, because of the employment earlier this year of a commercial road contractor who is being paid by unit price for work ranging from soil cementing to asphalt overlay. It's the first time the governing body has tried this route instead of relying on in-house crews or seeking bidders on individual road projects.