soilsailor
Bronze Member
Hello all.
I am looking for some of the pros and cons of living at the end of a dead-end road. Here is the situation. We bought 40 acres with a creek on our eastern boundary. We have built a shed on the property and plan on building the house this summer. Southern boundary is defined by an east-west gravel road. Other boundaries are neighbor's fields. (i.e. no road access). This spring the county secondary roads department closed the bridge across the creek (i.e. at the SE corner of our property) due to structural deficiencies. We are the last homestead on this now dead-end road. We are about 3/4 mile beyond our closest neighbor to the west.
The county board of supervisors is considering options for the bridge - either temporary closure until funding can be found or permanent closure. I plan on giving my 2 cents, but I am soliciting others for angles I may not have considered. The supervisors have just approved a similar bridge 1 mile to the south on the same creek. Hence, there is not much motivation for them to approve a replacement bridge on my road.
Here is my list.
Pros to permanent closure:
1) Less traffic
2) More solitude (okay, just another way of saying #1 above)
Cons to permanent closure:
1) Less motivation for secondary roads department to maintain our road. (in summer, grading and gravel, in winter snow plowing is needed as there is a significant hill that causes 6-10 foot snow drifts across our sole access road) I have talked with the guy that runs the road maintainer - he was forthright and said getting to our road is an issue as now the only way to get to our gravel road is to travel about a 1/2 mile on a state 4 lane divided highway just to maintain our road (total length would be about 1.5 miles of gravel road to maintain). He is not responsible for maintaining the 4 lane highway - so he won't prioritize our road due to the inefficiency of getting out to it.
2) I rent several acres of tillable ground to a neighbor on the other side of the bridge. Closing the bridge forces him to a longer route to farm my ground and must travel down a divided four lane state highway rather than a more direct route solely on gravel roads.
3) I have two elementary age kids that will start riding the bus this fall. The bus will need to turn around in our driveway (3 point turn) and risk a steep ditch or drive up our 900 foot drive and use the turn around in our yard.
My biggest concern is the lack of maintenance in summer and winter.
Thoughts?
Thanks.
I am looking for some of the pros and cons of living at the end of a dead-end road. Here is the situation. We bought 40 acres with a creek on our eastern boundary. We have built a shed on the property and plan on building the house this summer. Southern boundary is defined by an east-west gravel road. Other boundaries are neighbor's fields. (i.e. no road access). This spring the county secondary roads department closed the bridge across the creek (i.e. at the SE corner of our property) due to structural deficiencies. We are the last homestead on this now dead-end road. We are about 3/4 mile beyond our closest neighbor to the west.
The county board of supervisors is considering options for the bridge - either temporary closure until funding can be found or permanent closure. I plan on giving my 2 cents, but I am soliciting others for angles I may not have considered. The supervisors have just approved a similar bridge 1 mile to the south on the same creek. Hence, there is not much motivation for them to approve a replacement bridge on my road.
Here is my list.
Pros to permanent closure:
1) Less traffic
2) More solitude (okay, just another way of saying #1 above)
Cons to permanent closure:
1) Less motivation for secondary roads department to maintain our road. (in summer, grading and gravel, in winter snow plowing is needed as there is a significant hill that causes 6-10 foot snow drifts across our sole access road) I have talked with the guy that runs the road maintainer - he was forthright and said getting to our road is an issue as now the only way to get to our gravel road is to travel about a 1/2 mile on a state 4 lane divided highway just to maintain our road (total length would be about 1.5 miles of gravel road to maintain). He is not responsible for maintaining the 4 lane highway - so he won't prioritize our road due to the inefficiency of getting out to it.
2) I rent several acres of tillable ground to a neighbor on the other side of the bridge. Closing the bridge forces him to a longer route to farm my ground and must travel down a divided four lane state highway rather than a more direct route solely on gravel roads.
3) I have two elementary age kids that will start riding the bus this fall. The bus will need to turn around in our driveway (3 point turn) and risk a steep ditch or drive up our 900 foot drive and use the turn around in our yard.
My biggest concern is the lack of maintenance in summer and winter.
Thoughts?
Thanks.
