During its regularly scheduled meeting on July 21, the Putnam County Board of Commissioners took a step toward removing politics from road-paving decisions.
The four-member board unanimously approved an artificial intelligence-based pavement assessment service that claims to provide an objective method to determine which roads need attention first. The commission agreed to spend $42,500 for InfraHub (infrahub.ai) to conduct a county-wide pavement assessment.
The discussion followed the board’s approval and confirmation of an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the City of Eatonton establishing a 75-25 split of future Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (T-SPLOST) revenue. Seventy-five percent of T-SPLOST revenues will go to the county and 25 percent to the city, completing a required step before voters can consider a third T-SPLOST referendum.
Still, District 3 Commissioner Steve Hersey questioned asking voters to approve another transportation tax without first identifying the projects it would fund. He has argued in the past that his district includes several of the county’s highest traffic-volume roads and that should be a factor when considering road repair locations.
Hersey further suggested the county should complete a professional assessment of every county road to create an objective priority list before spending millions in future T-SPLOST revenue.
“It seems to me that this particular IGA has no specifics in it,” Hersey said. “All we can do is ask the voters, ‘Will you trust us?’” Interim County Manager Byron Lombard responded that the agreement mirrors the format used for the previous T-SPLOST and does not dictate how future projects will be selected.
“Every single T-SPLOST project comes before this board,” Lombard said. “There shouldn’t be, in my opinion, a dime spent from SPLOST or T-SPLOST that is not presented to this board."
District 2’s Richard Garrett agreed the IGA is simply the first step.
“We need to begin with the IGA, then the public referendum,” Garrett said. “Then as the money starts to come in, we can figure out which roads.”
District 4 Commissioner Jeff Wooten also endorsed using professional data to guide future decisions.
“I think this is an excellent idea,” he said. “It takes all the politics out of it.”
Upon unanimous approval of the agreement with InfraHub, Lombard explained the company will drive every mile of public road in Putnam County, employing high-resolution cameras and artificial intelligence to identify cracking, base failures, and all other pavement problems. Each road segment will receive a Pavement Condition Index (PCI) score based on Federal Highway Administration standards.
“The PCI score will literally tell us which roads are the worst roads in the county,” Lombard stated.
The assessment will also create a comprehensive digital inventory of county roads, with Putnam County retaining ownership of all the data.
Wooten asked how the system would account for older subdivisions in the county, where many roads were originally built to lower standards. Lombard said the data would provide an accurate ranking of road conditions, but commissioners would still need to apply local knowledge when deciding which projects should move forward.
“We need to be looking at the county as a whole,” he suggested. “Traffic volume, whether a road serves as a major connector, and other practical considerations will also factor into future paving decisions.”
Just as importantly, Lombard said, the objective data should help commissioners explain those decisions to residents.
“It [will be] an objective analytical data set that we’re using to help drive our paving decisions. That will hopefully take a little bit of the heat off of you,” he told commissioners.
The board unanimously approved both the T-SPLOST agreement and the InfraHub contract. Company representatives estimated the work could be completed in 45 to 60 days, Commission Chair Bill Sharp said.