Less dust, smoother roads for vehicles and safer conditions for pedestrians – that’s what a group of concerned residents who live along gravel roads in Oxford Township is asking their local government to give them.

Speaking during the public comment segment at last week’s township board meeting, eight residents living on Coats and Sanders roads requested officials improve the condition of the community’s gravel roads by using public funds to pay 100 percent of the cost to spray calcium chloride brine on all of them.

“It’s a mess out there and it needs to be taken care of,” said David Paslean, who lives on N. Coats Rd.

Applying calcium chloride to gravel roads is known to reduce the amount of dust that gets disbursed into the air when vehicles drive over them and help stabilize the roadway by keeping in place the material that binds the stones together, which minimizes surface deterioration.

Who pays what?

Currently, the township pays 50 percent of the cost to apply chloride to public gravel roads.

In March, the township awarded the chloride service contract to the Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC), which charges $0.452 per foot for individual orders. That price covers four applications of chloride this year.

But, the township will only contribute money for chloride on those stretches of road where residents agree to split the cost. Resident participation is purely voluntary.

The problem is, according to residents, not everyone is willing to chip in.

“The system we have now does not work,” said Randy Davisson, who lives on N. Coats Rd. “Yes, some of the roads do get chlorided, but a large amount do not because property owners choose not to (pay).”

“Some people don’t have the money. Some people just don’t want to pay for it,” said Beverly Girardot, a resident on N. Coats Rd.

“We don’t understand why everybody around us doesn’t have to kick in (for chloride). The roads are for everybody,” said Annette Smith, who lives on N. Coats Rd.

How is it working?

Inconsistent resident participation in the chloride program has led to what Sanders Rd. resident Mark Anderson called a “checkerboard” effect where some road segments are treated while others are not.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” he said.

Residents fear having large clouds of dust hovering over untreated roads poses a danger to pedestrians, particularly children getting on and off school buses, because such conditions can easily obscure the vision of drivers.

“I kind of think it’s a safety issue if nothing else,” said Freddie Norman, who lives on N. Coats Rd.

They also expressed concerns over how rough road conditions are causing excessive wear and tear on private vehicles and public ones, such as school buses, fire trucks and police cars.

“If it hasn’t been chlorided, (the road is) beating the heck out of those vehicles,” said Davisson, who added it’s then up to taxpayers to foot the bill for repairing and/or replacing them.

The numbers

According to township Deputy Supervisor Deanna Cushing, Oxford spent $24,812 for the 50-50 chloride program last year and has budgeted $23,000 for it this year.

Based on the RCOC’s current prices, if the township were to choose to pay for “blanket coverage,” which would involve four applications of chloride on all local gravel roads and public subdivision streets with gravel surfaces, it would cost $49,053 or 27 cents per foot. If five applications are selected, the cost would be $61,316 or $0.3375 per foot.

According to the RCOC, there are 181,667 feet, or 34.41 miles, of local roads and public subdivision streets that have gravel surfaces in Oxford Township.

It was pointed out by the residents who spoke that the four townships surrounding Oxford – Addison, Brandon, Orion and Metamora – all pay 100 percent of the cost to have their gravel roads treated with calcium chloride.

“If the other townships do it, why can’t we?” asked Girardot.

Township Treasurer Joe Ferrari told the audience the issue of using public funds to pay for road chloriding has come up “about three or four times” over the “last 25 or so years” and the board has always “wrestled” with the idea of asking residents who live on paved roads to help pay for maintaining gravel roads.

Ferrari recalled a township meeting in the late 1990s where  “we had a whole room full of village residents,” who live on paved streets, asking why they should be “paying a penny” for gravel roads.

The board’s decision to have a 50-50 split between the township and any resident who chooses to participate in the chloride program was a “compromise” intended to satisfy both sides, he explained.

The supervisors of the four neighboring townships all confirmed their governments pay 100 percent of the cost to treat their community’s gravel roads.

Addison Township

Addison Supervisor Bruce Pearson said this is the third year it’s being done in his township.

The Leonard-based Road Maintenance Corp. has been contracted to provide four chloride applications on Addison’s 245,357 feet of gravel-covered local roads and public subdivision streets at a cost of $63,793.

Pearson said Addison used to do a 50-50 split like Oxford until he learned the benefits of paying to treat all of the gravel roads.

“The road commission really educated me a lot,” Pearson said. “The only way to keep the gravel on the road(s) is to chloride them. The roads fall apart if you don’t chloride.”

He explained that having dust “flying off every time a car goes by” is a gravel road’s “worst enemy” because “you’re losing all the binding material and all you’re left with then is rocks.” This causes the road’s surface to deteriorate, he said.

Treating the road with calcium chloride helps keep the binding material in place and as a result, “your road will last like 10 times longer,” Pearson said.

Pearson said he used to be of the opinion that it should be up to individual residents to help pay for chloride treatments, but after seeing the impact they’ve had on Addison’s gravel roads, he’s now a strong proponent of the township-funded program.

“The proof was in the pudding,” he said. “Now, I’m a believer that chloride definitely keeps the roads nicer (for a) longer (period) . . .  It’s really the only way to keep up with (maintaining) the gravel roads. It took me a while to become a believer, but I got educated.”

Brandon Township

Brandon Supervisor Kathy Thurman said the municipality pays the RCOC to apply chloride to all of the community’s secondary gravel roads. This year the cost is $81,752.

“The less-travelled secondary roads get four applications and the (heavier)-travelled secondary roads get five applications,” she said. “That’s worked out well.”

Brandon has a total of 259,605 feet of secondary roads. Of that amount, 172,727 feet gets five applications at $0.3375 per foot and 86,878 receives four applications at 27 cents per foot, according to Thurman.

When asked how long Brandon has been doing this, she replied, “I’ve been here 10 years and they did it before I was here.”

Thurman explained the township subsidizes the chloride program because “the people that live on the gravel roads are not the only ones who are using them.”

“They’re used by the whole township and people that don’t live in the township,” she said.

Orion Township

Julianne Savard, administrative assistant to the Orion Township supervisor, said the municipality has been paying 100 percent to treat all of its secondary gravel roads with calcium chloride since 2005.

“Prior to that, we did the 50 percent thing,” she said. “The residents had to bring in 50 percent of the money and if they did that, then we would match it.”

This year, Savard said Orion is spending $59,837 for five applications of chloride to 177,296 feet of gravel roads.

Metamora Township

Metamora Supervisor Dave Best said his township has been covering 100 percent of the chloride cost for as “long as I’ve been here,” which is 18 years.

When asked why Metamora pays the full cost, Best replied, “That’s the way it’s always been here.”