Commissioner Bill Farnham says the Big Piney region southeast of Fort Leonard Wood will be the first place he takes Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel when they finish touring the western district of Pulaski County.
While the year-round population of the Big Piney area is relatively small compared to other areas of Pulaski County, its rustic scenery has led to the building of three resorts that are heavily used during the summer months by campers and boaters, and others have moved into the area because of the growth of Fort Leonard Wood. Most roads in the area are gravel, and one of the major roads, White Oak Road, has been so badly damaged that most of one lane has fallen into a nearby river.
Public safety became a critical problem in the first weeks following the floods that began in March and continued into April. Big Piney is part of the Duke Rural Fire Protection District, but Ross Bridge, the main road leading west onto Route K and eventually reaching Duke, was blocked by flooding. Even after the floods went down, much of the road was barely passable without a four-wheel-drive vehicle.
“When the floods came through and washed the road out, they had fire service on only one side of the bridge, and to go around is quite a distance in mileage,” Farnham said. “One of our priorities was to try to get that road opened up as fast as possible. It was opened up within about two-and-a-half days, but those were days those people were in limbo. If something bad would have happened, well, I hate to even think of what could have happened.”
The roads are passable for ambulances, fire trucks and school buses but aren’t yet fully repaired, and Farnham said he needs help.
“Whenever the FEMA representatives get to the eastern district, I want Big Piney to be the first area they get to look at the damage so they can give me an idea of what they will participate in,” Farnham said. “With the amount of damage that has been sustained down there and the upgrades to the road system that have been needed for quite some time, I think it’s the right place to start.”
Farnham noted that FEMA officials have told county commissioners that they’re willing not only to help pay to repair roads to the pre-flood standards but also help pay for work that will reduce or prevent future damage. That could be crucial in Big Piney where Farnham said many roads haven’t had adequate attention for years.
The Big Piney area has only one of Farnham’s 10 road workers assigned on a regular basis, but Farnham said he may send a much larger crew to Big Piney to do major work in a short period of time.
“I want to make sure we get in and make all the necessary repairs done as fast as humanly possible, and I need to know from FEMA what they will participate in,” Farnham said. “Last year I sent in two extra road graders and a couple of extra dump trucks out there. This year I plan on sending my entire crew out there to get all the work accomplished in a week to two-week time period, but that’s assuming we don’t get any more rain.”
Farnham said he also has to deal with other damage in the Dixon area and rural areas around Waynesville and St. Robert, but said he doesn’t want to see Big Piney neglected at the beginning of its biggest traffic of the year.
“It may be the smallest in population, but they also have a lot of tourists that use the resorts there, and they see a lot of traffic,” Farnham said. “There is a road out there that is four miles long that is gravel; that road gets a lot of traffic and needs a lot of attention.”
“Those people out there deserve just as good attention as the people here around Fort Leonard Wood,” Farnham said. “They’re taxpaying citizens and they deserve good roads too.”
In more heavily populated parts of Pulaski County, Farnham said he faces different problems with asphalt and chip-and-seal roads that are filled with potholes and can’t be repaired until the weather dries out. Many residents brought to the area by Fort Leonard Wood aren’t familiar with non-concrete roads and have become very upset when roads aren’t fixed more rapidly, Farnham said.
“A lot of people have never seen a gravel road before they were stationed at Fort Leonard Wood,” Farnham said.
With about 300 miles of roads and 10 employees, Farnham said there are limits to what he can do.
“We don’t have enough manpower, we don’t have enough machinery and we don’t have enough money to accomplish what we’d like to get done in the eastern district,” Farnham said. “With all the rain we’ve received this spring, a pothole has to be completely dry before we can come in and put asphalt in it. The few days we had dry weather and dry potholes, the company we usually buy asphalt from wasn’t making it.”