By Jason Cannon

The Demopolis Times

The State of Alabama maintains more than 11,000 miles of roads across Alabama’s 67 counties.

That span includes much more than asphalt. There’s upkeep or roads and bridges as well as general maintenance that includes grass cutting and trimming.

“Each entity is solely responsible for maintence and upkeep of roads and bridges within their defined jurisdiction,” said Marengo County Commissioner Ken Tucker. “The state is responsible for state roads, the county for county roads and the city for city roads.”

The Alabama Department of Transportation’s (ALDOT) Maintenance Bureau is responsible for maintaining the state highway system and other designated road systems in accordance with maintenance standards and policies established by the Department.

The actual maintenance and improvement of these facilities are performed by field personnel within the nine divisions or by statewide maintenance personnel.

“(Highway 43), for example,” Tucker said. “The state is responsible for Highway 43, regardless of which county or city it passes through.”

Municipal government tends to follow the state’s lead in road maintenance. However, Tucker noted there was often cooperation on the local levels.

“City and county roads are clearly defined by jurisdiction. When annexation occurs, things get a little more tricky,” he said. “City and county usually work well together and help each other out when appopriate.”

Aside from maintaining state roads, ALDOT’s Maintenance Bureau is responsible for developing, directing and controlling maintenance operations and programs in ways that will provide adequate levels of maintenance on state-maintained facilities.

In addition to routine maintenance activities, the Maintenance Bureau also has the following responsibilities:

• Maintenance Management Operation and modification of the Maintenance Management System (MMS) and the Maintenance Training Program for the effective management of maintenance operations, including modifications to the Alabama Maintenance Manual and the Field Operations Manual.

• Bridge Management Operation and modification of the Alabama Bridge Information Management System (ABIMS) for the effective management of the state’s bridge system.

• Traffic Operations Warranting: Operation, placement and maintenance of traffic signals, signs, and markings in accordance with the MUTCD.

• State Force Construction: Construction and improvement of highway facilities with field maintenance personnel.

• Special Maintenance Projects Program: Completion of projects by contract or state forces which include maintenance resurfacing, roadway projects, bridge projects, traffic projects and special projects.

• Utility Permits: The review and approval of permits to utility owners for the placement of utilities on state owned right-of-way which are under maintenance jurisdiction.

• Access Permits: The review and approval of access permits, grading and landscaping permits, installation of drainage structure permits, cross-over permits, special political boundary signs and other types of permitted activities that might occur on state owned right-of-way under maintenance jurisdiction.

• Junkyard Control: Control of location and appearance of junkyards adjacent to interstate and federal-aid primary highway facilities.

The Alabama Department of Transportation is broken down into several different subdivisions to ensure proper attention is paid to municipal road problems.

A division engineer is in charge of each division and has the duty of supervising Department of Transportation activities within the division.

The division maintenance engineer reports directly to the Division Engineer and assists in the coordination and supervision of maintenance activities within the division.

The district engineer assigns and supervises construction and maintenance activities within a district. Usually one or more highway superintendents and one or more project Engineers report directly to the district engineer. The highway superintendents, in cooperation with the district engineer, are charged with planning, scheduling and reporting all maintenance

operations.

“In addition to the maintenance personnel within each district, the division also has specialized crews that work throughout the division,” Dorothy Coats Waters, with ALDOT’s Eighth Division in Grove Hill, said.

“These crews perform specialized maintenance activities such as resurfacing, bridge inspection, bridge repairs, pavement striping and marking, and the installation and repair of traffic control devices.”

Waters said these crews also perform regular road maintenance such as grass cutting and trimming.

“They have a set schedule,” she said of the rotation that determines which roads are cut and on which days.

“They only cut certain areas on certain days.”