The Roads: A Background
The roads of Herndon's Rush Lake Estates, Vista on the Lake, Watson's Rush Lake Subdivision, and Robert Herndon's Addition to Vista on the Lake are maintained by the Association. The roads included are Bernice, Recreation, Mayfred, Junior, Forestlawn, Orchard, Higgins, Rushview,Rushside, Herndon, Mack, Country Club, Creston, Van Horn, Elmhill, Scotia, Nesbit, and Baudine. This maintenance includes road grading, snow plowing, sanding for ice, chloriding for dust control, and the addition of gravel as needed. Unfortunately, the roads in the Association were never built from the bottom up as roads and this makes It difficult at times to maintain them well. The Association has also seen to the blacktopping of the entrances of roads as they adjoin to the county roads. Sunnycrest, portions of Herndon, Creston, Elmhill, Baudine, Forestlawn, Recreation and Deering have never been developed but are part of the original plat. Rush Lake Road, Chambers, and Pettysville are county roads and thus are maintained by the county road commission. M-36 is a state road maintained by the State Highway Commission.
The roads of Moon Shadows are maintained by the Moon Shadows Association.
In 1974, the Association purchased a road grader and began a program of grading the roads using volunteer workers. This plan worked for a number of years but with the lack of knowledgeable workers and necessary expensive repairs, the Board voted to dispose of the road grader In 1992 and hire out the job of grading our roads.
During the winter months, the Association contracts out for snow plowing on our roads and sanding for Ice as necessary. Sand Is also arranged to be available in the parks for individual use. Barrels of sand are also placed in various locations around the subdivisions for individual use.
During the summer months, the roads are reviewed and the addition of gravel to spots in need are discussed.
As extra money accumulates in the road account, the Board considers the possibility of black topping of road entrances. This practice has proved to be a success and enables people to enter the county roads with a greater amount of ease.
Hamburg Township had always used chloride on our roads for dust control during the summer months but in 1993, they stopped this practice. To continue the dust control, the membership voted to Include In our dues an amount for dust control. We then were able to contract out for this service.
Road Signs
Speed limit signs of 25 m.p.h. were Installed on the Association roads in 1994. Originally many of the roads were marked at 15 m.p.h. but the Hamburg Township Police could not enforce 15 m.p.h. so we had to make it 25 m.p.h. which is the standard speed for residential areas. In doing this, the police would be able to enforce the speed limit and hopefully, slow some of the speeders down.
Stop signs are the responsibility of the Association to install and maintain. In 1991, the Board surveyed the area and Installed stop signs on nearly every corner as a method of slowing the traffic down.
Street signs that are on an intersection with a county road have been provided in the past through the county road commission but installation was by the Association. Street signs for an intersection with no county road are the complete responsibility of the Association.