Michael Giles, left, and Jacob Crawford prepare the unimproved Kittle Road for paving early Wednesday afternoon. Kittle Road is one of four roads in Catoosa County that are being renovated this spring thanks to a $494,000 state grant and $281,000 generated by county sales tax.Four roads in Catoosa County, Ga., will get makeovers this spring thanks to a $494,000 state grant and $281,000 generated by a county sales tax.
County commissioners on Tuesday chose low bidder Colditz Trucking Inc., of Blairsville, Ga., to resurface the following roads for a total of $775,000:
• Baggett Road for 2.2 miles from Boynton Drive to Poplar Springs Road.
• Old Mill Lane for 0.94 mile in front of the Colonnade community center from Pine Grove Road to Battlefield Parkway.
• Houston Valley Road for 2.45 miles from Bandy Road to Sizemore Lane.
• Kittle Road for its entire length.
County Projects Administrator Christal Thomas said the work has to be finished by July 31, but Colditz wants to get started sooner.
"They would like to jump on this as soon as possible," she said. "Hopefully, they can start by end of April, early May."
The county will pick up the entire tab to pave Kittle Road, which is unsurfaced, Thomas said. Part of the reason for paving Kittle is to make it easier to reach a communications tower at the end of the road.
"There's also chicken houses up there," she said. "[Kittle Road is] all rutted up."
Lots of logistics go into road resurfacing, county Public Works Director Donald "Buster" Brown said. For example, asphalt trucked to the site has to stay hot enough to be usable.
"There's a lot of planning that goes into it," Brown said. "You want to get asphalt from the plant closest to you, because of the cooling time."
The state funding comes from a Georgia Department of Transportation local maintenance and improvement grant. Catoosa County will spend money it has collected from a 2009 special purpose local option sales tax.
Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6651.