Covington County was able to make $8,000 in improvements to an access road and boat ramp leading to Yellow River, thanks to a grant from the Choctawhatchee, Pea and Yellow River Watershed Management Authority.

Lynn Rawls of the county engineering department said Thursday that the grant was for $4,000 and the county matched the other $4,000 to make the project successful.

The road and ramp are located off of Givens Bridge, where there was a watershed management problem in which public use, maintenance and downward gradient was allowing sediment to enter Yellow River.

“We worked four days on the project, grading and shaping and then hauling and spreading limestone on the road and rip rap in the ditches,” Rawls said.

According to a statement sent to ChocPea, Covington County Commission Chairman Bill Godwin acknowledged that the project clearly shows the problems the county faces each day with its public dirt road system.

“The constant maintenance and use by the public shows how sediment is transported and deposited into the stream by an unstabilized road bed,” he said. “The effect of the downward gradient shows how the collection of water along a roadbed creates rills and head cuts. The removal of this sediment will allow for better water quality by reducing the amount of turbidity, greater water capacity with the reduction in sediment and an educational tool showing the effects of pre and post conditions when resources can be used.”

Through the grant, the county worked to shape and grade the existing access road and surfaced it with a crushed aggregate surface.

Additionally, ditches were lined and checked, and the grassing along the shoulders was stabilized.

“These improvements help eliminate the erosion and sediment loss to the roadway and boat ramp area, therefore decreasing its impact on the watershed,” Godwin said.