A $900,000, three-mile road project in south Lincoln County wasa long time coming, but is progressing well, a supervisor said.

Approximately three months ago, work started on Montgomery Roadfrom Highway 51 to “just beyond” Montgomery Baptist Church, saidDistrict Four Supervisor Doug Moak. His district includes 2.5 milesof the road and a half-mile lies in District Three.

“They literally tore the whole road up and are rebuilding it toState Aid specifications,” he said.

State Aid is financing the road with no county funding, Moaksaid. The road work is expected to be completed in late summer orearly fall.

“I’ve heard so many comments over the years about how bad theroad was – especially there near the church – that I made it apriority,” Moak said. “But, these road projects take time to geteverything in order.”

The supervisor said Montgomery Road was one of the first plannedfor rebuilding when he took office, but it has taken several yearsto receive or purchase rights-of-way from the 25-30 families wholive on the road and to move utilities.

“I reprogrammed it when I first took office because it’s been sobad for so many years,” Moak said.

Moak said he can’t remember when the road last received anymajor attention, but it was resealed several years ago.

“The road and most of the steel culverts were in bad shape,” hesaid. “We’re replacing the old steel culverts with concrete ones.They last much longer. There is no major bridge replacementassociated with this project.”

Moak said he appreciated the cooperation he has received fromthe residents along the road, some of whom initially opposed theproject. At this stage in the construction, the road is often muddyand can be troublesome to residents.

“I haven’t heard any complaints because they know they got agood thing coming,” he said. “It’s just an inconvenience we have tolive with until the road gets paved. I feel like the contractor hasdone a good job of keeping the road passable.”