County Wants to Fix Crossings

Fayette County hopes to get a big share of the $4.3 billion in federal hazard mitigation grant funding awarded to the State of Texas.

Fayette County Emergency Management Chief Craig Moreau told the Commissioners at a special meeting Tuesday morning that the County could apply for up to $100 million of those federal funds.

At the meeting, Commissioners discussed using the money, if awarded, to replace some dangerous low water crossings with bridges on county roads.

“We have a bunch of low water crossings that have been hazards in the past,” Moreau said. “With some of the floods we’ve had, people have been washed off the road. This is potentially a life-saving decision if we decide to raise these.”

Moreau said Fayette County’s grant application should rank highly compared to other communities around the state.

“We’re going to be very competitive for this because we’re the only county (in Texas) that has qualified for all the disasters – the 2014, 2015, and 2016 floods and Hurricane Harvey. We’re the second highest declared disaster county in the State.”

The hazard mitigation grants comes with an optional one percent match. Moreau said committing to the one percent match will improve the application’s ranking.

“This is potentially huge to massive in scale,” Moreau said. “It could bring a lot of good things to the County.”

“We could get $100 million in projects done for a $1 million commitment from Commissioners Court,” he added.

Pct. 4 Commissioner Tom Muras recalled an extremely rainy year when he first became Commissioners in 1991.

“Its a worry, because we had some low water crossings that were eight to 10 feet deep,” Muras said. “You have to get out there ahead of time to barricade them off.”

Muras said he has replaced many low water crossings with bridges over the years, but some still remain. He discussed a low water crossing in the Middle Creek area that his crew recently refurbished. Muras said he would have liked to replace it with a bridge, but he did not have enough money in his budget.

“It can be a lifesaver,” Muras said.

Pct. 1 Commissioner Jason McBroom said a road in his precinct, Owl Creek Road, crosses Rabbs Creek with a low water crossing.

“That’s a major creek,” McBroom said. “I don’t think there’s any other low water crossing that’s public anywhere on Rabbs Creek. I can’t remember how many cars have gone off it in my time, probably seven. Everyone came out OK, but one car floated down almost a mile.”

McBroom said he and his crew must always pay close attention to the weather so they can barricade the road when heavy rains come.

“That creek comes up and goes down so fast,” he said. “You can get a four inch rain out there, and it’s fine. But you have to remember the rain coming from Giddings. All of a sudden, in the middle of the night, it’s up and the next morning it’s down.”

Moreau asked commissioners to formulate a list of low water crossings in most need of a bridge.

He will use that information in the County’s grant application.