Tulare County gets $1M for rural road repairs, check presented by State Sen. Melissa Hurtado

TULARE COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- A $1 million check presentation by State Senator Melissa Hurtado was at the center of Friday morning's event at the Tulare County maintenance yard in Visalia.

The funding will go towards fixing the county's rural roads through their repair project.

Tulare County's Resource Management Agency Director, Reed Schenke, says he appreciates this funding.

"A million dollars of fairly discretionary money is incredibly helpful. We've got 3,000 miles of roads here in Tulare County, many of them very rural and very remote, so this money is incredibly helpful for us to maintain and repair some of those locations," says Reed.

Senator Hurtado is from the Valley and says her focus is to help small communities that are often left behind.

"A lot of farmworkers live in these communities, so when you don't have good roads, it costs more money to have to put repairs into your vehicle because of the damage that is done to tires and repairs," explains Sen. Hurtado.

Last year's flood events also brought to light concerns over safe access to homes.

"When you go there and you go there on a rainy day, the families have to deal with mud, going into their homes, coming out of their homes, it's horrible," expresses Hurtado.

Tulare County officials say repairs will likely start this year.

And the one million dollars- will be used to address issues such as potholes and regular maintenance.

"We will be able to address about a half dozen different communities and a number of roads within those communities, so it will be noticed," mentions Reed with Tulare County.

Tulare County says repairs can start as early as this spring.

Although the list of specific roads or towns is not finalized, communities like Pixley, Earlimart, and Lindsay were mentioned during today's check presentation.

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