CARLYLE — Potholes are just upside-down speed bumps, Carlyle residents humorously noted.
The light-hearted banter helped bridge their complaints about the state of their roads at Tuesday night’s Community Conversation hosted by Thrive Allen County.
Still ahead were comments about stop signs, speeding and street lights. Even a discussion about building a playground came down to a consideration of how to make Texas Road safer, as the proposed location is near the Prairie Spirit Trailhead.
Allen County’s road and bridge director Mark Griffith took the brunt of the questions, responding in a good-natured way about the challenges of maintaining county roads.
“Mother Nature has kicked my butt this last month with freezing and thawing and potholes. But we’re working on it,” he said. When water freezes, it expands and causes cracks and potholes to widen. The potholes throughout the community have worsened, particularly on 1600th and Texas roads.
At least the potholes slow down drivers, residents noted. They want to add stop signs and take measures to curb speeding through town, particularly on Texas Road.
THRIVE hosts the community conversations in each city in the county, starting with Carlyle.
Roads top the list each year, Thrive CEO Lisse Regehr said. She thanked Griffith and county commissioner David Lee for attending Tuesday to answer questions and address the topic.
Carlyle residents opened the discussion by looking at their community’s strengths. Neighbors help neighbors, and Sunday church services are always full. They’ve worked together on improvements such as a storm shelter and signs that highlight the town’s history.
Most of the discussion, though, came back to the roads.
Carlyle resident Mike Church came prepared with a display of photographs of roads dotted with potholes, crumbling pavement and standing water on road surfaces because of problems with ditches and drainage.
“We’ve just got to do better as a team,” Church said. “I want to do better. And I know my commissioner and my road superintendent want to do better. I know they’ve got more to do than just our little circle here around Carlyle, but we’ve got to start somewhere and I’m going to keep hammering on it.”
Yes, Griffith said, the roads around Carlyle need work.
“In time, I would like to help Carlyle out with the blacktop instead of just chip-sealing out here. Same with Elsmore and Savonburg.”
Carlyle is lucky, Griffith noted. The residents’ major concerns “can all be fixed with time and money.” He promised to do his best to address those items.
