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County public works employees haven’t let up since flash flooding in early March wreaked havoc on area roads and infrastructure, according to Crisp County Administrator Clark Harrell.

Harrell said one of his top priorities is to ensure that their hard work isn’t undone by a future natural disaster.

“I want to provide the county, as best we can, with solutions and not just band-aids,” Harrell said. “Having to respond over and over and over costs money.”

One of the trouble spots in Crisp County has been on Cannon Road near Lake Blackshear. Many residents in the area were literally stranded when a portion of Cannon Road failed in the most recent flash-flooding event.

“That has been an ongoing problem. The first time that culvert failed was 1998, and this is the fourth time it’s failed,” Harrell said. “So the solution we’re providing this time is a bridge.”

Construction on that bridge has been progressing rapidly. So rapidly, in fact, that Harrell and a contractor at the site on Monday said traffic should resume to normal in as early as two weeks.

The trick now, Harrell said, is finding the funding to pay for the new bridge, which will run around $500,000. Local resident Johnny Floyd, who sits on the state transportation department’s board of directors, has been presented with a list of emergency roadwork needs from the county and has in turn presented that list to officials in Atlanta who hold the proverbial purse strings for funding these sorts of projects.

“I feel pretty confident that the state is going to take care of us on this,” Harrell said, noting that the construction work will not require the county to take on any debt.

Other emergency paved road work needs included on the list presented by the county and by Floyd include:

-Hatley Road west of Stokes Road: Replace four lines of failing cross drain pipes with a box culvert, plus raise the centerline elevation of the road – $200,000 (all costs are estimated),

-Cannon Road north of Cannon Branch: Replace failed double line cross drain – $60,000,

-Old Hatley Road east of Hwy. 90: Replace failed cross drain pipe – $12,000,

-Cork Ferry Road between Hwy. 300 and Coney Road: Add additional cross drain to help prevent residential flooding – $6,000

-Midway Church Road east of Hines: Install box culvert to help with residential flooding – $60,000,

-Hines Road north of Midway Church Road: Install box culvert to help with residential flooding – $60,000,

-Midway Church Road west of Hines Road: Install box culvert – $60,000

-Wildwood Drive: Add additional pipes to keep residents from being trapped in subdivision as Wildwood Drive is sole access road – $30,000,

-Wanda Road south of Beth Road: Install box culvert to help prevent citizens from being trapped in subdivision during heavy rains – $30,000.

Harrell said the county is continuing to assess conditions of the county’s 250+ miles of dirt roads for repair needs.