The Marion County Board of Supervisors listened to both sides this week as supporters of closing John Dunaway Road to through traffic and those opposed argued their points.
Some residents say the roughly 1.5-mile-long road near Darbun gets enough traffic where it needs to be kept open, while a hunting club says it should be closed because trash is dumped there and county resources could be better spent elsewhere.
Supervisors took the matter under advisement.
“The road is used quite frequently and would be used more if it was maintained,” Jerry Frank, a resident, said. “I disagree with closing it.”
There are concerns about a bridge that is posted for low weight and could be closed.
“It was put in in the mid ‘80s,” Frank said. “It’s in good shape, but if it needs to be replaced, you could use a large culvert like you’ve done on other roads to keep it open to cars. It’s a viable road. Closing it would be a step backwards.”
Forestry employees, including from Weyerhaeuser, use the bridge, according to those who want to keep it open. Papers said to have more than 150 signatures of people in the area who support keeping the road open were presented to the board.
Eric Thornhill, who lives nearby and has land on John Dunaway Road, said he and some others would like to see the county close the short passageway between Holly Springs and Ranch roads closed.
“We have a hunting club up there and all we find up at the gate is trash,” he said. “We’ve had to remove tires. People just come up there and dump things. We’ve had gates knocked down on properties there and also accidents. I know the bridge is up for repair, but there are other places that money could go. There are roads in way worse shape. To spend money on a road that sees three or four cars each day is not the best use of the funds. I feel like there are a lot of places you could put your money in. Our biggest complaint is that Holly Springs Road is turned to gravel in several places. It’s not to hunt; it’s not the trash even. We just feel that there are better places we can spend our tax dollars. We can spend them somewhere else.”
County Board Attorney Joe Shepard asked the board what it wished to do about the situation. On a motion from Supervisor Tony Morgan, the board will take the arguments under advisement to study them.
