By David Fleet
Editor
Groveland Twp.-On Monday night the township board of trustees voted 4-0 to pave two miles of Barron Road. Trustee James Christopher was absent with notice.
At a cost of $5.3 million, Barron Road between Groveland to Perryville roads will now be paved in 2021. The additional mile was added on Monday night. The federal aid will pay for 80 percent of the project, the Road Commission for Oakland County and the township will split the remaining 20 percent.
“They (RCOC) pave about one mile of road in Oakland County every year and there’s about 700 miles (of unpaved road),” said Bob DePalma, township supervisor. “It’s a long laborious process so this opportunity to get this (additional mile) squeezed in here is a good deal for the township.”
Currently there’s about $3 million in the township infrastructure fund, he said.

There’s about $3 million in the township infrastructure fund, he said. The infrastructure account, established in 2009, includes funds earmarked for projects such as road paving, property development and emergency reserves. A transfer from the infrastructure account requires board approval.
The extra money for Barron Road was made available from the Local Federal Fund Exchange program, a County Road Association-developed program that allows a county road agency, like the Road Commission for Oakland County to sell its highly-regulated federal Surface Transportation Program Rural funds for more flexible non-federal dollars to another county road agency at a mutually agreed upon rate.
“They want to pave the whole road in 2021 and it will be insurmountably saver then it is now,” he said. “There are lot of hills and dips on the Barron Road. A couple of them are really high and to meet the federal aid requirements they try to bring the high spots down as low as they can. It will be a much safer road.”
To meet the federal standards some trees will be cut along the road and low spots filled in to improve sight lines of drivers.