County wants highway repaired
CHARLESTON -- The state's first major concrete highway had held up pretty well against time and traffic but was no match for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
During the regular County Commission meeting Thursday, Bill Feezor of Charleston asked commissioners if there is any hope of repairs for a section of the old "slab road" located just west of Wyatt now listed as County Road 340.
"I've always heard it's the oldest concrete road in the state," Commissioner Robert Jackson said.
Jackson recalled the road was built to connect Charleston to the Birds Point landing for the ferry to Cairo, Ill.
According to "History of Mississippi County Missouri: Beginning Through 1972" by Betty Powell, the contract for the road was awarded Oct. 1, 1919, with the project being completed in November 1921.
The only concrete road in Missouri that is older is a three-mile stretch near Kansas City, Mo., but that road has been paved over several times leaving Mississippi County's as the oldest concrete road still carrying traffic, according to Powell's book.
Truck traffic carrying materials for the Corps' rebuilding of the frontline levee has taken a heavy toll on the road, however.
"Farmers never tore it up for 90 years," Feezor said, "so we didn't overload it as bad as they do."
Asked by Feezor if there is any hope of the road being fixed, Presiding Commissioner Carlin Bennett said there is "quite a bit of hope -- I just don't know when."
Bennett said he sees three possibilities for that road being repaired: reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which would cover 75 percent of the cost; 100 percent reimbursement from the Corps; or 90 percent reimbursement from the Federal Highway Administration as the road is still listed as an evacuation route.
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