Ronan potholes repaired
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By Karen Peterson Valley Journal
RONAN – The streets in Ronan are getting a little bit smoother now that a project to fill the potholes is near completion.
Ronan Public Works Director Dan Miller said his crew has been filling in potholes throughout the summer with a mixture of hot oil and gravel chips with a large machine.
“We pick out what we feel are the worst streets, and the most traveled, and do them first,” he said. “In the end, we will get to everyone.”
The process involves blowing out dust and debris from the broken portion of the road, spreading a thin layer of hot oil onto the surface, and then, filling the hole with gravel.
“It sets up immediately,” he said.
New roads would be the ultimate ideal if the town had a larger budget.
“This is what we can afford right now,” he said.
The Ronan City Council is working with the Lake County Community Development Center to create plans to fix the roads in the future, but they are only plans at this time.
“If infrastructure money becomes available from the state, it goes to the people with a plan,” he said. “So we want to make sure we have a plan ready.”
A project to get the streets striped with traffic lines is also in the works. In the past, Ronan would trade the Montana Department of Transportation water for paint. The department would use the water for their street sweepers, and they would paint a few lines in Ronan.
“We have been unable to get the lines in the past few years,” he said. “We have told them no more water until we get the lines.”
Miller said the pothole project is done every year. This year, the roads weren’t as bad as they were in the past. “I’ve seen worse,” he said.
