Chattooga County Public Works Director Lamar Canada told AM 1180 Chattooga County Radio on Tuesday afternoon that he has decided to put off work on the Smallen Road tile until next week due to the rainy weather this week.

Canada said that he does not want Smallen Road to become another "Highway 337 project."  Canada was referring to the many delays in getting State Highway 337 re-opened in the Menlo area.  That road has been shut down for over two weeks.  Canada said that the county wants to get in and get Smallen Road repaired with a short turnaround period.  The state DOT seems to be in no particular hurry to get the road open according to the opinion of some locals. 

Canada said that the state DOT told him they had to first wait on a tiles for the project.  Then the US Fish and Game had to inspect the area because of endangered species.  Now the state is blaming the delays on the weather and the fact that there are mandatory furlough days that workers must take.  Highway 337 won’t be open this week – maybe next week?

One Menlo resident told AM 1180 that "if Highway 337 were in Floyd County it would have been repaired almost as soon as it happened."  Menlo and Cloudland residents are frustrated because the road is the main route to LaFayette for workers who work at Bluebird and Roper.