Councillors in both Amherstburg and Essex agree: Smith Rd. is in terrible shape, but unless town councils can pool their resources, it'll likely stay that way for some time yet.
"This road here is probably one of the worst roads we have in our municipality," says Essex town Councillor Larry Snively. "It's a safety issue, and I'm telling you, on the east side, that road is destroyed."
The road divides the two towns and Essex Director of Infrastructure and Development Chris Nepsy has met with officials in Amherstburg about it many times over the years. They'll meet again soon in a new effort to address the road's rapidly deteriorating condition.
"It's in their 'needs now' pile," he says. "The problem is like every other municipality in the county, their 'needs now' pile is about $10-million worth. Politically which road are you going to do? I think on average they spend about $1-million a year on roads."
Councillor Bill Caixiero wonders if the county should take over responsibility for Smith Rd.
"Any road that is shared between two municipalities should be a county road because then we don't have this problem. The county takes care of it," he says. "Roads is one of those things they shouldn't share costs on."
Nepsy says Amherstburg could argue the $700,000 expense isn't theirs to spend.
"Based on traffic patterns, the majority of that traffic is coming from Essex."
He says paving the Essex half the road is possible, although not considered a best practice.