Liberty County’s road projects are getting more attention from contractors lately, according to county engineer Trent Long.

The county received eight bids for work on County Line Road and eight contractors picked up bid packages for work on McIntosh Lake Road and St. John’s Road.

The winning bid for repaving nearly two miles of County Line Road, from Rye Patch to Long Road, was nearly $958,000 by McLendon Enterprises.

“They have done several projects and all have turned out well,” Long told county commissioners.

The work will entail resurfacing and deep patching and came in under the projected $1.1 million estimate, Commissioner Connie Thrift pointed out. A notice to proceed, though, is still several weeks away.

Long also detailed other road projects underway or planned, including the proposed roundabout at Barrington Ferry Road and E.B. Cooper Highway. The roundabout will replace the four-way stop at the intersection. A meeting with the property owners on all four corners went well, Long said, and where the roundabout is expected to go will be marked off for area residents to see. Long said he also will try to schedule a meeting with residents in The Trails subdivision, where the county has taken over the roads and is working on improvements to those. Long told commissioners they will need to secure easements from some of the residents.

“As we’re working on that, we’re raising the road a good bit, so we’re going to have to redo several people’s driveways,” he said.

The county also has awarded the bid on work at the intersection of McIntosh Lake Road with Highway 84, which calls for installing a deceleration lane turning onto McIntosh Lake Road. Commissioners awarded the bid of $391,470 to J.W. Oliver Construction.

A question he gets asked often is dredging out the area near Susie King Taylor Freedom Park. But doing so brings into play other problems, particularly the cost, Long said.

“We looked at several times over the last 20 years and the cost of dredging is very steep,” he said. “It was more than $500,000 seven or eight years ago.”

As a comparison, the area at Jaycee Landing near Jesup has to be dredged out about every 10 years, at the cost of about $100,000.

But the area for the Isle of Wight park, and that cost would be about $500,000 every seven-to-eight years, Long said.

“It’s a great idea, but economically not recommended,” he said. “It would be a lot of money for very little output.”

The basin at the park builds up quickly with sediment, and the boat ramp is set up for small boats, and it can be used only for a couple of hours during each tide. There are other places in Liberty County to launch larger boats, Long said, such as the boat ramps at Sunbury, Interstate Paper and on South Newport near the McIntosh County line.

One other problem is what to do with the dredged material.

“You have to find a place to take that material as well,” Long said. “The process is not that easy, either. We have to pump it into bags and de-water it so you can haul it off.”

The county also has property on Cattle Hammock on Colonels Island and has plans for a pier and marina there.

“If we can start to find some money for that, it will be another good place for that,” Long said of launching boats.

Long said he has been in talks with property owners about a site for a new convenience center on the Isle of Wight and the county also will look at realigning Quarterman Drive so its intersection with Isle of Wight Road isn’t so close to the junction with Highway 84.