District 3 to have most work in 2025

Staff Report

The Panola County Board of Supervisors on Monday adopted the annual 4-Year Road Report, as required each year by the state law and submitted by the Road Department.

Road Manager Bruce Cook reminded supervisors the list is a guideline for future road work and can be tweaked each year as needed. Basically, though, the list stays the same each year with each road moving up a slot as work ahead is completed.

Most of the repaving work during the summer months of 2024 was in District 4, Cook reported, saying that a few leftover jobs from last year will be finished in that area when the weather warms, and then the department will move equipment to District 3 for 2025 work.

“Being patient for road work is hard for our citizens, but when we have a consistent road plan that we stick to it helps people understand the timetable of when they can expect their roads to be repaired,” Cook said. “The plan to get the most done in one area before moving equipment to another district is the way to get the most done in the number of days we have for resurfacing each year.”

The list is not set in stone and supervisors agree that some work gets put on hold when emergency road failures happen, often the result of flooding and washed away culverts.

The total projected cost for the approximate 82 miles of roads on the list is $7,624,824. River Road in District 5 at $667,000 is the most expensive project on the list, followed by Joiner Road at $527,000, and Tom Floyd Road in District 1 at $434,000.

Cook said county residents in Districts 1,2, and 5 can expect to see crews in those areas doing prep work this summer, getting roads ready for paving equipment.

“Much more than paving goes into these roads,” Cook said. “Preparation is what takes so long, but it’s necessary to fix a road right. One of the reasons the roads are in this shape now is because the prep work wasn’t done and the paving didn’t stand up.”

Cook said the first steps are cleaning ditches and cutting back limbs, often months before overlay crews arrive. “It does no good to pave a road if rain water won’t run off and move away from the road bed, and we won’t pave a road unless we do it to last.”

Roads on the paving schedule have a minimum of eight inches of clay gravel added to strengthen the base and some roads have large equipment used to grind up existing pavement and further pack the road base.

“We do all this because we want the roads to last for years and  not months like in the past,” Cook said. “It seems like a long process, and it is when you do it right, but if the county sticks to this plan we will catch up and citizens will see an overall improvement.”

The roads on this year’s adopted 4-Year Plan are listed by district:

District 1 (16.07 miles)

• East Compress (1 mile)
• Tom Floyd (4.6 miles)
• Old Panola from Dunlap Rd. to Tate-Panola Co. line (4 miles)
• Emory Church (.47 miles)
• Abe Chapel (1 mile)
• Jayne Lynn (.5 miles)
• Adams (2 miles)
• Alonzo Gibson (2.5 miles)

District 2 (16.62 miles)

• Old Panola north of Ballentine (4 miles)
• Pea Farm (2.33 miles)
• Farmer (1.15 miles)
• Davis Chapel west of Old Panola (1.05 miles)
• Tony Keating (1.67 miles)
• Tom Cooper (1.2 miles)
• Will Stewart (1.5 miles)
• Edwards (1.72 miles)
• Lamar Thomas (.8 miles)

District 3 (16.51 miles)

• Grant (2.8 miles)
• Tocowa from Tocowa Baptist Church west to Figg Rd. (.8 miles)
• Yocona Gin (.3 miles)
• Walls (.8 miles)
• Tinside (4.5 miles)
• McNeely (2.66 miles)
• Green (1.05 miles)
• Murphree (.8 miles)
• Jeff Sanders (2.8 miles)

District 4 (16.47 miles)

• Crouch (3.1 miles)
• Joiner (5.6 miles)
• Ales (2.5)
• Cline (1.6)
• Central Academy north of Hwy. 6 (3.6)

District 5 (16.16 miles)

• Old Panola from Viney Creek to Barnacre (1 mile)
• River (7.2 miles)
• Viney Creek (3.1 miles)
• Atkinson (3.5)
• Tony Keating (1.4 miles)