JEFFERSON COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — An issue that Jefferson County residents say has been a problem for years is potholes.
Donham Road in Pine Bluff has become a main concern for people in the city and has recently been brought up in quorum court meetings.
One man shared how his grandson got hurt while riding his bicycle over the road.
"He broke his tooth when he crashed his bicycle and hit his tooth on the handlebars," said Hershel McCoy, a Jefferson County resident.
Another man who travels the road many times a day explained how it's been a problem for more than five years. Chris Alverson said he asked his county representative to get the road fixed, but they have continued to tell him there was no money available.
We took the complaints to the Justice of the Peace for the area, Margarette Williams, and she said that fixing the roads is of the utmost importance to her. However, she also explained how she's recently had to vote against additional funding for the road department.
"We gave a million dollars at the first of the year and then we gave other monies and hired new people. There have been people that have been laid off and there have been other concerns," said Williams.
Jefferson County Road Superintendent Rickey Bullard and County Judge Gerald Robinson said there is no money to fix roads right now despite the $5.6 million approved for the year.
They also explained how no roads have been worked on at all in 2024.
"This was one of the roads that we wanted to try to do work on, but for the last four or five months the justices for the quorum court have not approved the funds that we've been asking for," said Judge Robinson.
So, where did the almost six million dollars go?
County officials said that from 2019 to 2022 about 100 miles of roads were patched or paved, but these financial issues started in 2023.
Last year, 11 roads were repaired, including Brown Cemetery Road— the last project completed by the department.
According to officials, the road department went $1.8 million over budget citing inflation as the cause. So, the judge took out a loan from Fordyce Bank and Trust to cover those extra expenses.
In 2024, the quorum court approved an extra million for the road department in January to help pay off the loan— but the budget is still depleted.
The 2024 expenditures from the road department were used for:
- 40 percent went to salaries and contract work
- 36 percent was spent on supplies and new equipment
- 14 percent on utilities
- 10 percent for the rest of the loan from last year
After all of that, the road department had only $100,000 left to spread across four months.
So, until there's more money there won't be any roads fixed.
"We don't want to wait five years. We've already been dealing with this for five years. So, we need something done," said Alverson.
Residents have been left wondering what roads are on the list for the county to fix next, and now we have an answer.
Here are the projects (in no particular order) that the road department will start on when funding is available:
Stagecoach, Monk, Gillian, Summers, Corner Stone, Curtis, Steward, Murdock, Dyson, Divoky, Quail Meadows, Bohannon, Saint Raphael, Esaw, Palomino, Henderson, Beechnut, Donham, Toler, and Bitely.