No truth to it...

After listening to the term "failed road program" on local talk radio for the past week, I decided to make several inquiries at the Hernando County Department of Public Works. The local talk radio show host stated on Tuesday that the money for the expensive computer system had been wasted and not spent on its intended purpose of road maintenance. Even though I knew that this statement had no truth to it, I decided to contact the county to verify the program was implemented, as promised by the county engineer.

My question was, "Did the computer system ever get implemented into a viable maintenance reporting tool for the county road system? "

This morning I received a very informative email from Pavement Management Coordinator, William Busch. Here is a portion of the text from his email:

The county's Pavement Management System, was implemented in 2000 and has been used to complete the task of repaving and repairing 695 miles of neglected roadway. This was accomplished on time and within budget. A remarkable feat considering the funding ($.03 gas tax) increased 28% between 1999 and 2007, and the price of asphalt increased 129% during the same time period.
A little about our system; PAVER™ is a pavement management system beneficial to all organizations responsible for managing their pavement network. It provides easy access to pavement inventory and inspection information, accurate analysis of current and future conditions, graphical presentations of reports through GIS, and optimization of work planning even with budget restraints.
Funding for Micro PAVER™ is provided by the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The American Public Works Association (APWA) and the University of Illinois have contributed significantly to the further development of Micro PAVER™, constituting its worldwide use by cities, counties, airports, planning commissions and universities.

Nobleton was one of the first areas to benefit from the residential road paving management system in Hernando County. Our tiny little community had our roads completely repaved in 2000. Even though Nobleton only has 13 paved streets, counting the intersections, this repaving effort by the county really improved our property values as a community. The residents in Nobleton were so impressed because our roads had not been repaved since 1956.

The Hernando County Board of Commissioners will vote on the extension of the $0.03 gas tax for the Road Paving and Maintenance System for the residential road system. Although I dread paying any increases at the gas pump, the use of gas tax money over the last seven years has dramatically improved our county to increase our property values as homeowners. Everyone paid this tax, including visitors to our county. By including the collector roadway network into the Road Paving and Maintenance System, it would enable the continued free flow of traffic, from the residential communities, for work, shop and leisure activities. I urge the commissioners to vote in favor of the continuation of this gas tax, with the inclusion of the collector roadway network, on Tuesday.

*****Please note that I received an email from the radio talk show host this morning (6-18-07) requesting clarification to this post for accuracy. The following is a portion of the text of that email from the talk show host:

I know your concern for accuracy, so therefore I hope you'll correct your blog entry, "No truth To It..." While a listener did make such a statement on my show, I made no such assertion. And, in fact, made a statement concerning how I didn't even know they had such a thing as he and you describe. In fact, I'm not completely sure you and he are talking about the same thing, but regardless, please let your readers know that the statement was by a listener, not the host.