By JOHN THOMPSON
Staff Writer

The Tyrone Town Council rejected a proposal last week to place nearly $39,000 worth of curbs and gutters on Swanson Road when the road is rebuilt.

The rejection angered several residents who claimed the curbs and gutters are needed to keep a semblance of a subdivision road, and not a major road that residents and visitors will use as shortcuts.

Town manager Barry Amos told the council that the town has been working with the Department of Transportation since 1996 to improve the road that divides two sections of the Pendleton subdivision.

With work getting ready to start on the road, Amos said several residents had asked that stop signs be placed at two intersections and that curbs and gutters be built. Residents also opposed widening the road to the standard DOT width of 24 feet.

“They feel that a 24-foot road would subdivide the subdivision and remove the neighborhood feel,” he said.

Resident Steve Sampson echoed Amos' comments.

“There's children that play there. We need to preserve what we can,” he said.

Sampson and other residents pointed out that Pendleton is one of the largest taxpayers in the town and said the town should go ahead and spend the funds to provide curbs and gutters.

Amos told the council that there are currently not enough funds left in the town's road improvements budget to cover the costs, and the council would have to look at other alternatives to pay for the 2,700 feet of curbs and two catch basins needed to improve the road.

Councilman Ronnie Cannon said the council had been spending nearly three years fighting to get this road done and he would support straightening and widening the road, along with adding stop signs, but could not support adding the curbs and gutters.

For Councilman Paul Letourneau, the decision boiled down to funding.

“I'd hate to be caught short at a later date,” he said.

Former councilman Bill Stone also said the road needed to be fixed.

“This is the most dangerous paved road in the county. It looks worse than a plot of land in Vietnam after Agent Orange,” he said.

The council voted to widen the road and add the stop signs to try and keep the speed down on the road.