HARTSELLE, Ala. (WHNT) — Orchid Private Drive in Hartselle is about a half-mile stretch of gravel, dirt, and potholes that are so big that emergency services refuse to use it.
“We have to deal with the road, and we have to worry about the kids getting hit and getting stuck and getting our cars torn up,” said homeowner Leighia Hudson.
Hudson is one of the homeowners on Orchid Private Drive where mail services, vehicles, school buses and trash pickup are just not possible to receive.
“All of the water on the road and the holes and everything just tears things up,” Betty Cobb said. “That’s why the buses would not come or none of the mail and the garbage trucks or anybody like that would come.”
According to the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT), Orchid Private Drive is a private road and is not listed in the county registry. But the homeowners believe that if the county would accept the road into its inventory, then the county could help maintain it.
News 19 reached out to the Morgan County Commission, which provided a statement that reads in part:
“The Morgan County Commission does not perform any maintenance or has any legal authority to do so. This private drive is not part of the Morgan County Road System.”
Leighia Hudson said that her grandmother owned and maintained the road until they lost ownership of the state in 2007.
“The state picked it up and once the state picked it up, they gave her time to get it back, and she did not,” Hudson explained.
While the proprietorship of the road remains unclear, the homeowners are pleading with the county to help them fix it before further damage is done.
“It would be plenty helpful if we knew they could do something, so this way we would not have to worry no more,” said Cobb.
The post Residents plead for road to be fixed, say services refuse to use it appeared first on WHNT.
