By Staff
FEELING LEFT OUT Ward Five City Councilman Bobby Smith hopes to have Tanner Road paved soon. Residents who live on the road, one of the few unpaved roads inside the Meridian city limits, say they feel left out, noting they also pay city taxes. Tanner Road is part of an area annexed by the city in 1995. Photo by Carisa McCain/The Meridian Star
By Fredie Carmichael/staff writer
Feb. 25, 2002
H.W. Davidson checks the weather forecast every morning to see if it's going to rain.
Not to see if he needs to take an umbrella, but so he can see what kind of mess he'll encounter when he tries to back his pick-up truck out of his driveway onto Tanner Road.
Tanner Road is one of a few streets inside the city limits that is not paved. City crews recently laid a layer of gravel over the dirt road after a heavy rain.
The issue
Ward 5 Councilman Bobby Smith, who represents the residents of the road, said the paving of the mile-long dirt road and nearby Tanner Circle are at the top of his priority list.
But, Smith said, he doesn't expect to have enough money to pave the streets anytime soon. He said the project will take at least a year.
The wait
Smith said while he's aggravated it has taken so long to get the roads paved, he blames the Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors for part of the delay.
But Boswell, a county supervisor who represents District 5, disagrees.
More problems
Boswell called the roads a "disgrace" and "impassible" when it rains. And, he said, he originally planned to help the city out and overlay nearby Scruggs Road before city crews began laying water and sewer lines.
Davidson agreed.