In just six months, a Lauderdale County road considered “middle of the pack” has degraded and become nearly impassable due to heavy construction equipment.

Silicon Ranch, a Nashville-based solar power company, has trucks that have made thousands of trips on Knox Road to a proposed solar plant that will provide power to Mississippi Power customers and additional revenue for the Lauderdale County School District though a 16th Section Land lease.

Since construction began approximately two months ago, the additional traffic has torn up the once passable road and become a possible safety hazard, Rush Mayatt, the county’s road manager, said.

“Knox Road was actually middle of the charts,” Mayatt said. “Of course, now if you went out and ranked it, it would be a 1.”

Six months ago, Civil Links mapped all of the roads in Lauderdale County and ranked them on a scale from one to 10, with one being the worst and 10 being the best. Previously, Knox Road earned a score of five.

“It’s not that (Silicon Ranch) is hauling excessive amounts… we routed them this way. They’re doing what we’ve asked them to do,” Mayatt said. “It’s just that the additional traffic’s more than that road can take.”

Mayatt said that the trucks could take only one route to the site because the other end of Knox Road has a low-weight bridge that couldn’t support the weight of the trucks. Additionally, construction on the project could go until December, Mayatt said, leaving the county to figure out how to maintain the road in the meantime.

“The maintenance costs — just trying to keep it in stable condition to travel on — just the maintenance costs will be over $100,000, easily,” Mayatt said.

Mayatt approached the Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors Monday with his conundrum, describing how a once passable road had deteriorated more quickly than expected.

“It’s going to continue to fail and continue to get worse,” Mayatt told supervisors. “I’m bringing it to y’all because I’m lost on how we can continue.”

Mayatt told supervisors he didn’t have the budget or manpower to send someone to Knox Road daily for maintenance.

“When this project first started, they were clearing trees on Russell-Topton (Road),” Mayatt said, saying they cleared more than 600 acres for site development. “We managed to get through that but it wasn’t easy and it wasn’t fun. Nevertheless, we took that one on the chin… This one right here? I don’t want to do the same.That one’s in pretty bad shape but it’s nothing like this,” Wayman Newell, the supervisor for District 2, said. “We need to talk to these people and see if we can get them to take over the road until the project is over.”

Josh Todd, the supervisor for District 3, advised that Mayatt create estimates for maintaining the road and for fixing the road after construction that could be shared with Silicon Ranch.

“You’re going to have to go out there and figure out how much it will cost,” Todd said.

Mayatt told supervisors he would but warned that any numbers he gave would only be a snapshot of that day’s damages, which quickly climb with rainy weather and more trucks.

“I’ll work on getting the numbers together but they won’t be anything to stand behind,” Mayatt said.

Following the meeting, Mayatt discussed the balance between safety and cost, saying he needed supervisors support before taking any action.

“My biggest issues is that there’s a lot of liability on our part,” Mayatt said. “Whether it’s incident claims or even the potential to cause a wreck… that’s my biggest concern (but) I don’t have the manpower to go over there every day.”

At 3:30 p.m. Thursday, school buses could be seen traveling back and forth over road worn down to the dirt. Newell, whose district includes Knox Road, said this was a major concern.

“It’s a county road, not a state aid road, so the county is responsible for the upkeep of that,” Newell said. “My concerns are that the road is being broke up so bad and there’s school buses with school children… the well-being of the children is my main concern.”

Newell noted that supervisors would need to solve general maintenance on the six-to-seven miles of road until the project finished but replacing the entire road would cost well over $1 million.

“The finished product won’t be complete until the plant is finished,” Newell said. “I don’t know if we’ll get any compensation, but we’ll approach (Silicon Ranch).”

Supervisors discussed how they could pay for a fix, saying that they’d have to navigate the red tape of government contracts if they asked for financial assistance from Silicon Ranch.

Mayatt said he anticipated having to put up signs and limiting travel on the road to through traffic only before the project finished.

“I’ve got guys putting up some signage to try to alert anybody trying to travel on that road that there’s going to be a lot of bumps and to travel slowly,” Mayatt said. “I definitely don’t blame anybody for it. It’s just something we’re dealing with.”

Mayatt said that road deterioration can be hard to predict, especially as he tried to balance fixing failing roads and maintaining mediocre roads.

“I don’t know what the answer is and we’re working on that,” Mayatt said. “(The solar farm)’s great but it shouldn’t come at the expense of this road.”

In other business, supervisors went into executive session to discuss economic development, the potential purchase or lease of real property and personnel matters for four departments: the Lauderdale Emergency Management Agency, County Administrator, Road Department and Solid Waste Enforcement Officer.

Supervisors interviewed three candidates for the solid waste enforcement officer, who will be responsible for educating the county about litter ordinances and work to reduce illegal dumping.

After spending over three hours in executive session, board attorney Lee Thaggard said supervisors took no action and Jonathan Wells, the president and District 1 representative, adjourned the meeting.