The town of Vaiden is preparing to do street repairs, and although they are not repairing as many streets as they initially wanted, but it’s the start they have been seeking.
Mayor Mel Hawthorne told the Board of Aldermen $100,000 would be used to pave Elm and Magnolia Streets. Originally, they wanted to pave Cherry, Flowers, North Street, Elm and Magnolia, but Hawthorne said the money couldn’t stretch that far.
Vaiden applied for more funding, but were not chosen during the second round of funding from the legislature.
“We have North Street in with our sewage grant. So, if we get that, then we can fix North Street because the water runs under the street,” he said.
Hawthorne said Beat 5 Supervisor Rickie Corley told him if Vaiden could pave half of Kennedy Road, he would work on paving the other half and offered $10,000 that could be used for tar and white gravel. But, Fire Chief Johnny Burrell told Hawthorne he may want to look into other options.
“I’m sorry for speaking out of turn, I know it’s not my business, but don’t do that. That ain’t gone last. There’s a road in Montgomery County now that has that on it and you should see that road now. And you can’t fix it, you just gotta go in and patch it,” Burrell said.
He said because of the heavy traffic from big trucks, the road wouldn’t last because of the weight of the trucks would crush it and cause it to crumble.
“That’s their only way in (by using Kennedy Road), and they can’t cross those low ton bridges,” Burnell said.
Hawthorne said they’ll go back to the drawing board and figure out a way to pave streets in Vaiden.
