Escambia County Commissioners got a little good news Monday when County Engineer Bill Bridges addressed the group.

Bridges told Commissioners grants and approvals coming into coffers will help meet needs throughout the county.

“We have received grants to help with road striping and county road signs,” Bridges said. “The funds will help bring several areas in the county up to better standards.”

With a $110,000 grant, Bridges said the county will begin restriping Travis Road on the east end of the county.

“In the grant application some accident information was included,” Bridges said. “We applied for that grant more than a year ago and we are glad to get it. Travis Road will see some striping in the near future.”

A second grant will help bring county road signs up to Federally mandated standards, Bridges said.

“We have received a $20,000 grant to replace signs along county roads,” Bridges said. “Federal guidelines require signs to have retro-reflectivity which means they are more visible at night.”

Roads receiving updated signage include Jay Road, Ridge Road and county roads 41, 1, 40, 27, 45 and 18 up U.S. 31 to the T, Bridges said.

In other business, Commissioner Raymond Wiggins said spraying along the county road rights-of-way should begin soon to help curb growth of brush.

“We should see the right-of-way spraying begin sometime this month of the first of May,” Wiggins said. “That will be the beginning of this cycle in the second phase of spraying.”

The chemical spraying of underbrush along roadways began last year with some success, Wiggins said.

“The spraying that was done last year did a good job,” Wiggins said. “We do have some areas that were sprayed last year that will need to be re-sprayed and it will be done at no additional cost to the county. In about another year we should have all areas along our paved roads completed.”

The Commission also:

• approved the acceptance Stokley Plantation, Phase IV into the county’s road system. The subdivision was accepted based on rules and regulations in place at the time of construction.

• approved an agreement with the Alabama Department of Emergency Management Agency for assistance to the Escambia County Emergency Management Agency. The agreement will put $1,864 in the coffers to operate the division.

• ratified an agreement to re-invest certificate of deposit funds at Escambia County Bank in Flomaton. The CD was reinvested at .67 percent for 12 months. The current interest is down from 1.82 percent on the same funds at maturity.

• approved implementing direct deposit for employee payroll beginning July 1.

• heard from County Engineer Bill Bridges that work on bridges in the county is continuing with FEMA funding being approved recently for the work to be done on the Smith Dairy Road Bridge. Work on the Old Foshee Road bridge is near completion with work continuing on the Cowpen Creek Road bridge.