April wrote to us saying, "I've notice that during the summertime the grass grows really high around the interstate, I-16 and I-75. Why is the grass barley getting cut and why can't we get the prisoners to do it? When out-of-towners come in, I want them to see how beautiful Macon is, not how we have the ugliest landscape in the summer."
Quincy Whinte agrees. He wishes someone would take care with the highways he travels on.
"It's getting a little high in the middle and on the sides and stuff," he said of the weeds and grass that line Interstates 16 and 75 in Bibb County, a problem that continues to grow each year.
"You gotta take care of it, because if you don't it'll get out of hand real fast," said Whinte.
Davie Biagi with Georgia's Department of Transportation, or GDOT, sent us this statement in response to our questions about I-16 and I-75.
"Statewide budget cuts during fiscal year 2009 and this current fiscal year, 2010, have created many new challenges for GDOT, including maintenance activities, such as mowing, litter removal, weed control, and landscape maintenance."
Biagi says state motor fuel tax funds are the only source of funding for most regular maintenance activities. GDOT say it's lost about $225 million in fuel-tax revenue since 2008.
According to Biagi, the funds are projected to remain low. She says budget cuts have had the following impact on GDOT maintenance efforts.
- GDOT mowing crews only mowed their non-interstate routes one time last year and will probably only be able to mow these same routes one time this year toward the end of the summer.
- Interstate mowing contractors did not remove litter from the interstates during last winter and will not this winter.
- Interstate mowing contractors only picked up the litter and mowed the interstates one time last year. This limited mowing and litter pickup schedule will occur again this year.
- Landscape contracts and rest-area custodial contracts have been canceled.
Bibb County Chief Deputy Russell Nelson says the
Bibb
County
Sherriff's Office doesn't have the manpower to supervise inmates, or the equipment to cut grass on the interstates' steep roadsides.
"It could be a large liability issue having inmates out along the major highways like that or cutting the grass and using that type of equipment they haven't been trained to use," said Nelson.
"GDOT continues to perform safety mowing for sight distance issues and we use our personnel to pick up hazardous objects from the roads and roadsides that could harm the traveling public. We continue to use and fund the prison details that are available from the Department of Corrections and other local correctional facilities," said Biagi's statement.
It said GDOT has contracts with the Department of Corrections and some private and county correctional facilities for supplying and supervising 36 prison crews to pick up litter on a daily basis. That costs more than $1 million a year.
Biagi says the facilities use that money to hire guards to watch the crews, but the areas available for pickup are limited to the location of the prison facilities.
Still, Whinte says working on the roads can only help Macon's image.
"If we kept it up and cleaned it up, make sure the highways were cut it'll make a better impression of Macon," he said.
The Bibb County Sheriff's Office does maintain some roadways in the county. If you know of an area you'd like them to clean up, you can call the Bibb County Detention Center at 478-621-5668.