Drivers Warned To Use Extreme Caution On Gravel Roads In Oakland County
BEVERLY HILLS (WWJ) - Drivers in Oakland County are being asked to use caution on gravel roads in the next few weeks.
Craig Bryson, with the Road Commission for Oakland County, said rain mixed with snowmelt will likely cause soft conditions on some unpaved road surfaces. The anticipated rain could also contribute to washout-like conditions, especially in hilly areas, and some gravel roads may be impassable.
"Some of them may become very saturated and difficult to drive on. In the past, we have seen a few cases where gravel roads became so muddy that they were very difficult to drive on," Bryson told WWJ's Zahra Huber.
Bryson said crews are doing what they can to fix more than 760 miles of gravel roads in the county, such as adding more gravel and grading them.
"Grading is when you push gravel back into some of the low places that some of the gravel gets moved out-of-the-way through normal wear and tear. That helps in some instances," he said. "But in some instances, there's just so much saturation that it doesn't make much of a difference."
Unfortunately, crews won't be able to get to all the roads, so Bryson is asking drivers to use caution and find alternate routes.
"We could add additional gravel in a few places but that's a very time-consuming and labor intensive activity and we cannot do it everywhere," he said. "If there is an area that looks like you might not be able to get through, we would encourage you to find another route."
Bryson said many drivers are surprised to learn just how many gravel roads are in the county.
"Some of our gravel roads carry as much traffic as the busiest roads up in the northern parts of the state," he said. "They were once farm lanes. Many of them are now fairly heavily traveled roads and heavy travel on a gravel road will just beat it up. Even the ones that aren't getting soft tend to get rough this time of year with potholes and rough surface conditions."
To report any gravel road issues, call 877-858-4804 or contact RCOC online.
