An otherwise normal Tuesday turned into a muddy mess for Humboldt?s David Gant.
Gant, owner of D&D Propane, had sent one of his trucks out to make deliveries Tuesday in the midst of the latest round of wet weather.
The truck became stuck along a gravel road southwest of Neosho Falls in rural Woodson County.
Problem was, most of the gravel along the road had long since been washed away, making the route susceptible to rutting.
Gant estimates it took about 90 minutes to pull the truck three-quarters of a mile, backward, to a sturdier surface.
?In my 30 years of doing this, I?ve never seen the roads this bad,? Gant told the Register Wednesday.
Allen County Public Works Director Mitch Garner said crews will have a busier than normal spring and summer repairing the 970 miles or so of county roads, 850 of which have gravel or dirt surfaces.
?There?s just not been a chance for anything to dry out for several months,? Garner said.
More than 30 inches of rain have fallen in the area since last August according to Iola city records, about 10 inches above what normally falls in the seven-month period.
Several roads in Allen County have become wet, muddy, rutted messes, pocked with potholes and washed out gravel because of ongoing wet weather.
The county has five motor graders with their designated areas, plus five truck drivers to deliver rock when needed.
Even so, the weather has put them on hold.
?If we blade a road now, it?s just going to get ruts again,? he said. ?It needs to get a lot dryer.?
And even then, repairs will be more extensive than normal. Some roads may need to be graded multiple times to smooth over the ruts, he predicted, before gravel is added.
And it?s not just the grave that needs attention.
