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It's now a smooth ride through Plains - for about 500 feet on Willis Street, which was repaved and reopened for traffic last week.

For much of the 12 miles of roads through town, it's still a bumpy ride, but that's something Mayor Dan Rowan is making one of his top priorities while in office.

It took contractor D.W. Wipplinger of Plains about a week to complete the paving job alongside City Hall, reopening the road Friday. Roadwork began prior to the fair with a new drainage system and sidewalk installed, but the work was put on hold during fair because of the traffic increase.

The cost of the Willis Street project, which was repaved from the railroad tracks to Meany Street, was $65,000, most of which came from the Special Improvement District, commonly called the "road district," said Rowan. A portion of the funds came from fuel tax from the state. The project included paving the City Hall back parking lot. 

The town saved thousands of dollars by having its public works staff do much of the roadwork, including the grading of easements along both sides of Willis, Clayton and Third streets, First and Second Avenues and part of Second Street. Rowan said about a dozen people complained about the town encroaching on their private property, but he said the easement spaces on each side of the roads are town property and are needed for drainage purposes. He said when people plant grass right up to the road or fill the area with gravel, so it goes above the street, the rain runoff has nowhere to go. It either settles on the road or seeps below the road, and both can cause more pothole problems.

"Grading the area of the easement adjacent to the asphalt so that water will drain off of and away from the pavement will help extend the life of the pavement," said Rowan. "However, you can never completely stop potholes from forming; that is a continuing problem for any paved surface," he added. 

Willis was the third major street repair project over the last year. Farmer Street, which was repaired last year, had been rated the worst road in town because of its deep standing water and numerous potholes. Willis also had a major drainage problem, but no more, according to Rowan. "I drove on the road and it is nice and after the rain last night, there was no standing water anywhere that I saw," said Rowan. Willis and Farmer both will be chip-sealed in the spring. 

"We should have done Farmer Street this year, but the Willis Street project took so long and cost so much that it will have to wait," the mayor said. Earlier this year, the town paved 235 feet of road from the curve on Fifth Avenue just before the fairgrounds bridge to Second Street. Portions of Central Avenue, along with Boyer and Ryan streets, were chip sealed this year.

The mayor believes that with the road district tax and state gas revenue, the town should be able to complete one large paving project each year. He said they might be able to get work started on Central Avenue this year, depending on weather. If not, they'll tackle it in the spring. He said most of the road projects need storm water drainage work, which is a significant cost. 

Rowan said that road repair is a never ending process. "It would be nice if all the streets in town could be improved like the section of Willis Street that was just completed, but lack of enough funding prevents that for the foreseeable future," he said. "I can say that with current funding levels, it is safe to say that it will be many years before all streets in town could be improved."