Commissioner announces roads on ‘short list’
By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
Escambia County Commissioners, in advance of the onset of a $2.5 million paving project funded from sales tax revenues and a commitment from Poarch Band of Creek Indians, were tasked with providing a list of roads in their respective districts that will get new surfaces under the plan.
Each commissioner’s short list will apparently live up to its name.
“We had to come up with a list that comes to about three miles total,” explained District 4 Commissioner Brandon Smith, who represents most of Atmore and its outlying area. “These are the ones that will be paid for with the Poarch money. We have to come up with a second list of longer roads that will take a lot more money. I’m still working on that list.”
The roads to be resurfaced on Smith’s list include about 1.1 miles of Jerkins Loop, which he said would be completed in another phase, along with Hume and Randolph avenues, each of which connects Cowpen Creek Road with North Canoe Road.
It also includes Helton Road, Poplar Farms Road and Zorn Lane, which are off U.S. 31, between Atmore’s city limits and the Canoe community.
The commissioner said he was just glad to see forward movement on bringing the county’s overtaxed and long-neglected road system up to par.
“I know these (the initial list) are not a lot, but you’ve got to start somewhere,” Smith said. “One thing I’m proud of, though, is that for the first time in Escambia County’s history, we have an infrastructure plan to address some of these roads each year.”