HERMANN — As the Gasconade County Road Department tries to stretch its coronavirus-depressed funding through the rest of the year and keep an adequate amount of gravel on the roads, county administrators are continuing to hear from residents who want their roads paved.

The latest plea for paving came Thursday from Alice Wacker, a resident of Old Woollam Road, who asked the County Commission for help in controlling the gravel dust from the road. She is among residents of unincorporated portions of Gasconade County who would like to see their roads receive a coat of chip-and-seal.

Southern District Associate Commissioner Jerry Lairmore, R-Owensville, explained that Wacker — a 38-year resident of the area — and her neighbors are experiencing more dust for a simple reason: “The road is better now than it was 38 years ago and people are driving faster,” he said.

Lairmore added that more gravel — river or creek rock, instead of more white rock — could be added to the road to help control the dust.

But, he noted, the process of putting the road on the list to receive chip-and-seal is more complicated. “First, we have to have right-of-way,” Lairmore said, explaining that property owners have to agree to grant right-of-way to the county. An effort to have a road paved is also helped, he said, by property owners being willing to contribute a portion of the cost of the paving, as was the case with another county road recently placed on the list to be upgraded.

“Most people are in favor of chip-and-seal,” the commissioner said, noting that having a paved road translates into higher property values for the adjoining landowners.

“We sympathize with people,” Lairmore said. “We understand the dust; but we’re limited in what we can do.”

“The catalyst is right-of-way,” said Presiding Commissioner Larry Miskel, R-Hermann. “And property owners need to understand it’s not ownership,” he said.

“It’s just an easement we have to maintain that road,” Lairmore said.

County administrators consider a road, or portions of a road for upgrade to chip-and-seal, regularly and consider such factors as traffic count and safety issues when pondering a move from gravel to hard surface. Chip-and-seal is a coating that consists of small pieces of rock held in place by a thin coat of a petroleum-based product. It is significantly less expensive than covering gravel with a several-inch layer of asphalt but it lasts only a couple years before wear and tear requires another round of maintenance.

On another transportation-related matter, the Road Department will be ordering a new dump truck, thanks to funds that will be received as part of a settlement between Volkswagon and the federal government following legal action against the automaker regarding emissions. According to county officials, Gasconade County will receive about $45,000 as its share of the settlement with that money being used to replace a dump truck that has logged 400,000 miles. The new truck will cost about $120,000 and, according to County Clerk Lesa Lietzow, will have to be paid in full up front with county dollars.

“We’ll have to pay the whole thing out of our budget and then get reimbursed,” she said. The price of a new dump truck is not part of this year’s operating budget, which will be stretched even tighter after the new truck is purchased.

Lairmore said he is hoping the financial hit to the budget can be softened a bit by the sale of the bed of the old dump truck, as well as other line-item savings that might be found in this year’s budget.