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The first Plains road work of the year was done last week with new smooth asphalt on North Central Avenue.

Plains resident Doug Wipplinger and his road crew completed the 440 feet on Central Avenue in front of the Assembly of God Church last Thursday, followed by two sections of West Lynch Street on Monday. Wipplinger said he planned to do some patchwork on McGowan Street later this week.

Central Avenue had been next on the town's worst roads list created by Mayor Dan Rowan, the Plains Town Council and the Public Works Department in order to set a priority in getting them fixed. They looked at different criteria, such as drainage, road condition, and usage.

The town budgeted $100,000 for road improvements for this year and Wipplinger's bid was within the budget restraints. Wipplinger was the only bidder for the job. It took Wipplinger's crew of nine less than five hours to spread 164 tons of 350-degree asphalt on Central. Denny Burgess operated the asphalt paver while Austin Stafford smoothed the seam between the two lanes. Charlie Hohenstein used an asphalt roller to compact it. Trucks were continuously dumping asphalt into the paver. Wipplinger had two of his trucks driven by Peggy Stafford and Jacob Hanson, along with two trucks from Thompson River Redi-Mix delivering material to the site. A crew graded the edges the following week. The road will be chip sealed next year. Rowan said the Public Works staff would put drainage in on one side while the Assembly of God Church will pay for drainage on its side of the road.

Wipplinger has been in the road construction business for 42 years and has lived in Plains for 23 years. He has redone four streets in Plains and placed patches on numerous other roads in town. Although he's done some private work in Thompson Falls, Hot Springs and Paradise, he tries to concentrate in Plains for town work.

"Central had the worst drainage and is the worst road we have right now," said Rowan, who said that roads are the number one complaint from residents. Rowan has been working with the Montana Rail Link road master to get the railroad crossing on South Central Avenue repaired. The railroad worked on four crossings and in the process tore up the asphalt. Rowan said they fixed the crossings at Hubbard and Willis streets, as well as one west of town, but have not repaired the problem at Central Avenue.

Rowan said many of the 13 miles of roads and alleys are in poor shape, and fixing roads will likely be a never-ending operation. Next on the priority list is South Central Avenue from First Street to Fourth Street and Hubbard Street from Railroad Street to McGowan Street. He's not sure when work will start on South Central Avenue, but probably next year.

The town has made other street changes. Two stop signs were installed on Third Street and a speed bump was placed at the corner of Willis and Oak streets next to the kid's wading pool. Each summer, during the swimming pool operation, the town reduces the speed limit to 15 mph and puts out an electronic speed board. "We have a heightened awareness there for the pool area during the summer months, but people still weren't slowing down, so we had to do something," said Rowan.

The speed bump and new stop signs have had mixed reviews. Rowan said most Plains residents are in favor of the new modifications; complaints have come mainly from county residents traveling through town. However, at least one resident who lives at the corner of the speed bump has complained that it's very noisy when vehicles, especially those with trailers, go over the speed bump. Rowan said they might switch it for a stop sign. He said they're also going to put in a painted crosswalk next to the wading pool.

In addition, plans are to make Clayton Street a no thoroughfare for trucks over 26,000 GVW (gross vehicle weight) sometime this year. Rowan said the truck traffic is degrading the road faster.