Dallas County Road 49 to get repaved thanks to combo of funding

Dallas County has pooled together partnerships to come up with $136,000 to pave a heavily traveled road in Valley Grande. 

County Road 49 has been riddled with potholes for years and efforts to repair them haven’t worked. Even the sheriff and 911 have told Dallas County Commissioner Vivian Rogers that the road was too bad to travel. 

Rogers said she had a treatment, made mostly of gravel, put on CR 49, but it only made matters worse. At that point, she said she got down on her knees and prayed for help.  

Shortly thereafter, Rogers got a call from Ala-Tom RC&D Council Program Developer Noopie Cosby, who told her he may have some money to help her get that road paved from Persimmon Tree Road to the intersection where State Route 14 and 219 split from each other. 

In a press conference on Monday, officials gathered on CR 49 to announce the partnerships that are leading to the repaving of the road. Ala-Tom RC&D contributed $30,000. The state of Alabama contributed funds from the Rebuild Alabama Fund, and Valley Grande asked the county to pave the road with funds that Valley Grande contributed to the county. Dallas County committed funds and in-kind service. The total cost for paving the road is $136,748. 

State Rep. Prince Chestnut and state Sen. Robert Stewart thanked RC&D, which is a nonprofit that gets state funding they use to give grants for conservation and quality of life projects to communities in Black Beltcounties, for the work they are doing across the counties they serve. 

Commission Chair and Probate Judge Jimmy Nunn said, “See what can happen when government and the community work together?” Rogers echoed that statement. 

Rogers said she has gotten about 20 roads paved in her district, but she said there is work still to be done. She is compiling a list of roads that are next for paving. One is County Road 277, better known as Quick Freeze Road. A drainpipe must be replaced first, and it’son order.  

Valley Grande Mayor Wayne Labbe said he is proud of the progress Valley Grande has experienced recently with the opening of the new Dave’s Market and with the paving of CR 49 and Merrifield Road. 

Dallas County Sheriff Mike Granthum said with such a smooth road, people tend to speed. He assured everyone his department will be monitoring and protecting the public’s safety. 

In a separate press conference, Cosby announced that Ala-Tom RC&D provided a $20,000 grant to the Selma-Dallas Rescue Squad for a side-by-side utility vehicle and an all-terrain vehicle for the Dallas County office of the Alabama Forestry Commission.  

The vehicles will help rescuers get into difficult areas after storms and to make a path for the first responders to reach disaster victims. The equipment will also be used during missing person searches in forest lands and for wildfire suppression when assisting volunteer fire departments.