HEALDTON, OK -- Healdton drivers tell us they only travel down Hospital Road when they absolutely have to, but since it's one of the main roads that runs by the hospital and the elementary school, they don't get to bypass it often. But they may not need to take alternate routes much longer.

"I drive up and down it every day," one Headlton resident says.

"I swerve to miss potholes," another says.

Diana Trammel is one of the many Healdton residents that dreads the road she has to use to drive to and from work. She works as the librarian at the Healdton Elementary School off Hospital Road, also known as Eighth Avenue.

"I worry about my car, and the maintenance on it," Trammel says.

"You have to sway back and forth going down the road to get to your destination. It's time that they fix the road for the citizens of Healdton."

This stretch of road has fallen into a deep state of disrepair, and many of the folks who travel the road are ready for something to be done about it.

City officials say they're aware of the problems, and that it's time to repave this well-worn road.

City manager Ralph Brugger says the subject was brought before the city council at the beginning of the month, but is on hold until the cost of repair can be calculated. They hope to generate a plan in time for the holidays.

"we have to go through getting quotes by the contractor and find a contractor that has a state bid maybe or a county bid so we won't have to do our own bidding, and see how well they could do it for and see how much road we can improve."

So come December Healdton residents won't only be hoping for a white Christmas, they'll also be hoping for a pothole-free ride to work.
City officials are estimating the cost to have Eighth Avenue as well as several other patches of road repaved will be under a similar project completed by Carter County, which ran about $300,000.