Rehabilitation of a Franklin County road damaged from a logging operation will begin this week, and Franklin County engineer David Palmer remains hopeful the logging company will follow through with a verbal agreement made regarding its involvement in the process.
Cedar Ridge Road, a 1.5-mile road that begins at Bonds Cemetery Road and dead-ends into Cedar Creek Lake, is the only access for several families to reach their lakefront property. Several residents complained to Palmer and the Franklin County Commission after the road was damaged during a logging operation that began in March.
The timber clearing was on land owned by Merwyn and Donna Crandell along Cedar Ridge Road. The job was contracted to High Point Land & Timber in Tuscumbia and Entrekin Logging of Russellville.
Cedar Ridge Road was left broken and damaged with ruts up to 24 inches. Palmer inspected the road in May and described it as a “total loss.” Additional damage is evident on Bonds Cemetery Road at its intersection with Cedar Ridge Road.
After the Franklin Free Press began an investigation relating to the road and shoulder damages, Entrekin Logging owner Blake Entrekin contacted Palmer to express his willingness to repair Cedar Ridge Road. Palmer again spoke with Entrekin last week in an effort to line up the commencement of the road rehabilitation.
“We're hoping it will be a cooperative process, but we really won't know the answer until the work is completed,” Palmer said. “We've got to do what we've got to do, whether anyone else is involved or not. I can't sit around and wait for someone else. If they come do what they said they'd do, I'll say everything went well and I'll be happy with the result."
Palmer said the agreement called for the logging company or its contractor to reestablish the ditches along Cedar Ridge Road. This would include cleaning trees, brush and other debris in the ditches to regain drainage capability that was in place prior to the logging operation.
“Several entrances and exits along the road are not functioning where they accessed property," Palmer said. "Essentially anything outside the actual roadbed itself, they agreed to come in and reestablish. [The Franklin County Highway Department] will go in and work on reestablishing the roadbed itself."
Palmer said last Thursday he hoped to have highway department crews working on Cedar Ridge Road this week. His department employees were in the process of finishing several scheduled jobs before they were to move to Cedar Ridge Road.
“As soon as those are done, we'll move our forces from those jobs to Cedar Ridge Road," Palmer said. "I'm hoping to have that done this week, and I've been in contact with Mr. Entrekin to try and get everything lined up."
Once the project begins, Palmer expects it to be completed within two weeks. With favorable weather, he said the job could be done after five to six working days.
“I'm still getting calls from property owners in that area wanting to know what the situation is and what the plans are,” Palmer said.
Recent improvements made by the highway department prior to the logging operation left Cedar Ridge Road in the best condition many of its residents had ever seen.
“This road was in great shape, as good as it's been since we bought our land here,” Harold Martin said of Cedar Ridge Road.
Martin and his wife own a residence on Hickory Lane. This private, unpaved road was built on property owned by the Crandells, with residents along the road given right-of-way access. Martin said logging trucks used Hickory Lane as an egress route and broke his water meter during their operation. Martin had his meter location marked with a stake and pink ribbon prior to the time it was damaged.
Palmer hopes the cooperation pledged by Entrekin will be a springboard to improved communication between Franklin County and area logging companies.
“I've worked with logging companies in Franklin County through my career. We've had some issues, but we've always worked through them," Palmer said in May. "I know logging's a tough job, and I respect our county's loggers. I'm hoping to have a community meeting with area loggers, publicize the date and time, and start to bridge the gap on some communication issues."
Palmer said the highway department would repair the ditches in the event that Entrekin doesn't have the work done. At that point, he would turn the matter over to the Franklin County Commission.
“If it's not done, I'll present it to the commission and say here's what took place, here's what we spent, what we spent up front, what we spent again, and the condition it was left in,” Palmer said. “They will then decide how to handle it moving forward.
"That's all I can do. The commission will decide what policy to set, and whatever that is, I'll move forward in that direction."
