Jake Lough, director of the Montgomery County Highway Department, spoke to members of the Crawfordsville Rotary Club on Aug. 17. He is a county native and graduated from North Montgomery High School in 2005 and Vincennes University in 2007. He has worked for the highway department for 14 years. He shared a lot of information concerning the county roads. There are 800 miles of roads in the county for which the highway department is responsible. There are 500 miles of paved and 300 miles of gravel roads. Larger farm machinery, heavier weights and increased traffic causes more wear and tear on the roads. Some roads were built 60 or 70 years ago. Chip seal is the main preservation of the roads. In 2000, there were 50 employees in the department. Today there are 33 with some openings. The department is funded only through the gasoline tax. to meet “best practices” for road maintenance the department would need $2.4 million additional to the current budget.
