Lake View Road is obscured by lime dust, residents complain

Jonathan Limore is one of several residents living along 4620 Road, also known as Lake View Road, south of Marble City, who complained to Sequoyah County Commissioners on Monday that lime dust is making driving conditions hazardous.

“It‚s a dust bowl,” Limore said. “It‚s so bad with dust flying everywhere, my wife had to use her flashers one day to avoid being in a possible accident.”

Rita Gibson, another resident, said the lime dust chokes and breaks down lawnmowers, and at least one person has died from an accident on Lake View Road. Gibson did not say if lack of visibility was the cause of the accident.

“There is lime everywhere, especially with the trucks using the road. Something needs to be done,” Gibson told the commissioners.

According to Gibson and Limore, the problem with the road has been ongoing for at least 15 years.

Most of Monday‚s comments were directed toward District 2 County Commissioner Beau Burlison, who inherited the road project, along with others, after taking office in 2020 to replace former Commissioner Steve Carter. “I spoke with Carter, and he was going to do something about it back when he was in office,” Gibson said. “I‚ve also talked with Beau, and still nothing has been done.”

Gibson said while other roads in Sequoyah County have been asphalted including those in Central, Dwight Mission and Marble City, Lake View Road remains in bad shape.

Limore said Burlison told him more than a year ago the road would be paved with asphalt within a year.

“Now it‚s been a year later, and it‚s still not done. I realize the price of oil has gone up, but I was told there were funds which had been allocated to complete the project. I think it‚s just poor planning,” he said.

“They went in and broke up all of the old asphalt, laid new lime rocks for a pad for the asphalt, then they came back and broke that up to lay the tinhorns. Seems they could have done that in the beginning. Nothing further was done to it and now the lime dust is just everywhere,” Limore said.

Ray Watts, District 1 Commissioner and chairman of the board of commissioners, said, “In Beau‚s defense, the chipper used by the district is broke, and there is only one in commission, but we are taking the chipper to him next week. We are going to get out there next week, and that road is going to get chipped.”

District 3 Commissioner Jim Rogers said the recent increase in oil and gas prices has also resulted in some delays of completing road construction projects because, although with allocations for the project, prices have increased since the bidding process.

Rogers also said road projects are funded under different allocations, such as County Improvements for Roads and Bridges (CIRB) while others may be funded differently. Some road projects are funded mainly by the State Department of Transportation, and the commissioners have no say about when those projects are completed. It‚s all up to the state, he said.

Burlison said Thursday plans were already underway to get the chip and seal done to the road next week. Although he has been in office for nearly two years, Burlison said he could not respond to why the work was not completed before he took office, but did say more work has been done on the road in the year and a half he has been in office than before his time as commissioner.

“We did lay the lime down and made preparations for the chip and seal, but after the heavy rains that fell, we had to go back and find the water issues, which is something we can‚t always find in the beginning. I know the road has been a mess, but we‚ll have it good and drivable by next week. Today, we are just getting ready for the chip and seal work to be done, but it‚ll all be good next week,” Burlison said.

Burlison said although the road stretches about two and a half miles from Marble City to Blunt Baptist Church, the work will include two miles of work.

Limore said if the work is done by Burlison as the commissioner said it would be, things will be okay.

“I saw them out there this morning, so I‚m glad there‚s some movement out there,” Limore said on Thursday.