CAIRO — Grady County commissioners voted last week to begin an estimated $1.5 million process to repave Open Pond Road.

The existing stretch of Open Pond Road, which officials say is one of the county’s roughest thoroughfares, is 21 feet wide, but County Administrator Buddy Johnson said modern roads are generally constructed 24 feet wide, though there is no mandate for the practice. The county administrator warned commissioners that an increase in road width would come with an increase in price tag.

“Obviously the more asphalt you use, the more it’s going to cost you,” he said.

Pre-construction estimates for the project ranged from a low of $1.5 million to keep the current width and repave Open Pond Road to Old 179 to a high of $2.3 million which would see the road expanded to 24 feet and paved all the way to the county border. Johnson specified that the figures are merely estimates provided to county officials, not exact bids for how much the project will eventually cost.

The county administrator told the commissioners he was skeptical that the road’s width needed to be expanded.

“It is a traveled road, but that’s not to say it’s a heavily traveled road,” Johnson said. “I’m not sure I’m ready to go that route. I think it would be safe to maintain what you have.”

Commissioners quickly ruled out expanding the road to 24 feet and were then left with the question of whether to pave the thoroughfare only from its beginning on Highway 84 to Old 179, where much of the road’s traffic turns off, or to also pave the additional two-mile stretch beyond 179 to the border with Decatur County. Johnson said he believed the additional two miles could wait until more pressing projects have been addressed.

“We want it done right, but do we want a Bentley or do we want a Cadillac?” he said. “I think we want a Cadillac right now and if we need to come back and do some other stuff later, fine.”

Commissioner Phillip Drew agreed with that assessment.

“It would fix the issues of people dodging potholes,” said Drew, who made the motion to approve the low bid. “It would get this done and save a couple of hundred thousand that we can use in another area.”

Johnson said the remaining two miles stretch of the road would not be completely forgotten, and county officials are likely to return to repave the remainder at a later date.

Much of the cost of the project will be paid for using a local maintenance and improvement grant (LMIG). Revenues from the recently-passed transportation local option sales tax (TSPLOST), set to go into effect this September, will likely cover the rest.

“We also want to be good stewards of our TSPLOST money,” Johnson said. “While we know it’s going to come in, we’ve got a lot of roads that need fixing besides Open Pond.”

Other roads likely to be revamped using TSPLOST funds include Pine Park Road.