WASHINGTON COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — Some Washington County residents are speaking out about their frustrations after finding their neighborhood roads covered in oil recently.
Washington County resident Tayler Story says the oil maintenance on the road is an inconvenience to everyone living along County Road 655.
"We're extremely frustrated. The animals, the wildlife, it has affected them. We didn't know to put our pets up, so they are caked in it. Dawn dish soap is not getting it off, it's so thick that it is literally matting in their fur. The school bus is unable to come down County Road 655, they absolutely refuse." Story said.
Story said that the county waited until the second day of school to come out and spread the oil, and that drivers have been forced to come up with alternate routes to get kids to and from school.
The Prairie Grove School District is still picking up kids along the road, but on a separate road.
Washington County Communication Director Tad Sours says crews lay the oil every few years for maintenance.
"That is a medium emulsion cutback called MC-30. It's used on pretty much every upgraded gravel road in the state of Arkansas. It is ARDOT-approved for use.
Sours told 5NEWS that the treatment makes the road last longer and cuts down on dust, which is a "chief complaint" from area residents in the rural areas of the county.
However, Story said that she prefers the dust to the oil.
"I would rather dust my house 1,000 times than to have to deal with this for three days, and it's going to last longer than three days," Story said, adding that her biggest concern is that no warning came from county officials.
"Could they not let us know the day before? Because we do have animals. We are in the country, there are animals, there's wildlife. We have cats that we normally bring in at night. We can't do that right now because they're covered in it," Story explained.
Sours says the process depends on weather and it's hard to give warning.
"We have to have a 72-hour window of no rain for that to fully set up and cure correctly. The first layer was laid last Thursday, and then the second layer was done on Monday, so by the end of the day today, you're talking fully cured. It's also heavily dependent on personnel, time, and on materials. Our road crews did everything that they possibly could, including signs warning people of the fresh oil," Sours said.
Driving on the fresh oil can cause exterior and permanent damage to vehicles.
The Story family says that their two vehicles are ruined, caked with oil buildup.
"The sedan has oil on the rims which cannot come off," Story said. "The truck has already had two coats of diesel and been sprayed and washed down... everything, but it still just covers it."
Last year when the county did road maintenance, Story says it cost her family $6,000 for a new paint job on one of their other trucks.
"We can't afford to repaint cars if it messes up the paint on these cars like, we can't. There's no possible way. Every time the county decides that they want to do this, are they going to foot the bill? Probably not, if one of our pets gets sick from this, are they going to foot the vet bill?"
Sours understands residents' frustration, but he wants them to understand that the treatment is important.
"These maintenance things are in addition to paving season, in which this year, we're headed for our 200-mile mark of paving in Washington County. There are 950 miles of roads that the roads department is responsible for the maintenance of, so we try to get every inch of road as often as we can, but it's time and opportunity," Sours said.
In regard to when it will happen again Sours said that the county "probably won't need to do anything for the foreseeable future."
"After it's fully cured, you'll see the graders out there about every eight months doing just regular maintenance. And that's the way we kind of keep an eye on where the roads are, which roads need the most maintenance. And that's kind of where we focus our efforts."
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