MACON, Ga. — Macon-Bibb drivers, this one's for you.
The county wants to fix up roads with a new system they have in place. They 'grade' the roads and pick the worst ones to fix first.
"Each road was rated, a scale of one being good, five being bad. So we wanted to make sure that we go ahead and cover all the roads that were rated a four or a five," explained County Manager Keith Moffett.
Pierce Way is one of the roads the county rates at a five. Unfortunately, it's cracked from beginning to end. In some cases, the cracks are so deep you can see red clay underneath.
Only a few people live on Pierce Way. It's a relatively short stretch, but some neighbors say it needs some fixes fast.
"We've heard their concerns, and we're going to do it as quickly as possible and as efficiently as possible," said Mayor Lester Miller.
Macon-Bibb leaders say they're committed to making those fixes. It requires moving some money around. They rely on grant money from the Georgia Department of Transportation to fix the county's 1,100 miles of roads. The program is called LMIG.
"Each year, we have a set of roads that we put in through the LMIG partnership," Moffett said.
Tuesday, commissioners voted to spend $2.5 million to add to the LMIG fund.
Miller says including state resources and future planned county budget increases through 2025, they expect to spend $15 million to fix all level four and five roads.
It's about five times what they usually pay into the fund. The extra money will allow county crews to do some of the work themselves.
They can work on county-funded and GDOT-funded projects at the same time. Mayor Miller says that should cut project completion times in half.
"The fact that we can allocate five times the amount of local funds directed at roads tells the community we're serious about this," Miller said.
He hopes by 2025, they'll have all level four, and five roads finished. He says the average road in Macon has a rating of about 2.7.
The commission still needs to vote one more time to make the funding official.