State Looks To Cut Down Its Costs Of Maintaining Roads

State transportation officials hope to save some money by having fewer miles of roads to maintain. Right now, the state has more than 32,000 miles with about 24,000 of those miles as county highways. Transportation’s chief engineer Kevin Keith says the Department would like to look at putting about eight thousand miles back into county control. The State Highway Commisson has given him permission to look into that. He admits this could be a tough sell if it means money out of a county’s pocket. Keith says he wants to start the discussion with counties as to how to take the money the state gets from them and put it back in their control to do a better job of maintaining those roads.