Meade County's roads did not suffer much catastrophic damage during the recent blizzards and subsequent flooding.

"We've mostly suffered gravel loss," county highway superintendent Ken McGirr said Thursday. "We had some minor culvert damage and very minor bridge damage."

Erosion around bridge ends qualifies as minor damage, McGirr said. He added debris such as trees needs to be removed.

A bridge on Avalanch Road going to the Sturgis landfill has severe erosion in the concrete waterway, according to McGirr. He said engineers are looking at the situation.

Maurine Road has required the most work, according to McGirr. This goes straight south from Maurine, which is in northern Meade County.

A 40-foot section of Maurine Road washed out entirely; crews needed about two days for repair. McGirr said the road was graveled on Thursday, and a local rancher provided some material at no cost.

McGirr said gravel loss and drainage issues exist, and those are more apparent now. "It gives us the opportunity, when things dry up, to go correct some of those." McGirr added the county can act proactively instead of being in a react mode.

"We may see some accelerated failure of older asphalt due to the wet conditions," McGirr said of future days. "That would be the main costly thing they're finding."

Many roads remained too wet or muddy for repair work until late this week. Crews were then able to start hauling gravel to some of those areas.

"Our intent would be to split our gravel crew into maybe three groups," McGirr explained. "This would allow us to work throughout the county." He said two or three trucks will likely run in each area.

Work begins on the most heavily traveled roads first, according to McGirr. He added crews will work their way toward the more local roads. Eleven motor graders are running each work day.

McGirr said roads considered "emergency need routes" get top priority. He added bus routes, mail routes, and main arterial roads going through the county then receive attention. Highways 34, 79, and 212 are state-owned.

Crews maintain about 1,000 miles of roads in Meade County. Members were able to drive virtually all of them beforehand, and they noted what they saw. McGirr noted they follow an office plan that is continually updated.

"We know where some of them are," McGirr said of the problem areas. "We've got them written down." He added crews will look at repairing some of the drainage areas when conditions dry and damage is repaired.

McGirr said the process will take some time.