NATCHEZ &8212; Driving down narrow Marblestone Road in north Natchez is slow going.

Dips, hills and potholes make up what passes for a street.

The road is scattered with multi-toned patches of asphalt, creating the effect of a badly made quilt.

Turning around is a tricky business. It has only one lane, and there is no room to maneuver at the ends of the neighborhood&8217;s roads.

Along with Brookview Lane, a road that branches off it, Marblestone Road was a county road until Natchez annexed it several years ago.

Once merely county paths, Marblestone Road and Brookview Road are simply asphalt on dirt. There is no packed earth, no gravel, no support under the street, City Engineer David Gardner said.

There is also very little drainage along Marblestone and Brookview, Gardner said. This means water pools and penetrates the street, causing it to sink and warp.

&8220;That&8217;s a perfect example of how not to do a street,&8221; Gardner said.

The city has patched and filled sinkholes, but the streets need a full overhaul, he said. The streets need to be widened as well as torn up and built from scratch. The narrow streets are more than just a nuisance &8212; they raise questions about ambulance and fire truck access, too.

But widening the streets will probably have to wait. Such a large project will take more money than the city can provide and will probably have to come in the form of state or federal funds. Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux Mathis said she has been working to get federal money for the project, but it is likely to take some time. Instead, for now, Gardner suggested correcting drainage problems and rebuilding the street.

A little extra time on widening Marblestone is not all bad because there are some kinks to work out. Federal funds would require the engineers follow federal standards. A 2005 study of the area suggested that widening the roads to these federal standards would mean encroaching on some residents&8217; lands and even demolishing some buildings.

While this is not likely to happen in the near future, it seems the only way to fund and fix the narrow streets, Gardner said.

For now, he recommends the temporary fix of rebuilding the roads.

And residents of Marblestone Road and Brookview Lane say both drastically need fixing.

Clarence Davis, 48, grew up at 35 Marblestone Road. It has always been bad, he said.

&8220;Everything up here is a big old hole,&8221; Davis said. &8220;It&8217;s a wonder it doesn&8217;t cave in. They patch and patch, and it doesn&8217;t do any good.&8221;

Davis&8217; mother, Annie Lee Johnson, lives at 35 Marblestone Road, next to Marblestone Baptist Church. She said the road desperately needs work, but she is afraid the city will make people move if they decide to widen it.

&8220;I&8217;m 70 years old,&8221; Johnson said. &8220;I can&8217;t start over nowhere. People whose grandparents worked for these houses live here.&8221;

Down the road and around the corner from Johnson, Beatrice King owns a small beauty shop at 4 1/2 Brookview Lane. She expressed her concern about the road while scrubbing a customer&8217;s hair.

&8220;We think it&8217;s horrible,&8221; King said. &8220;We&8217;re paying city taxes, and they haven&8217;t done anything.&8221;

Dot Marsalis is one of King&8217;s customers.

&8220;I come out here once a week,&8221; Marsalis said, &8220;and it&8217;s getting progressively worse.&8221;

She said she worries her car might get damaged driving over the hills and craters.

Her fears are well founded, it turns out. Albin Anderson lives on Brookview Lane, and he said the road sank under the weight of his car just Thursday.

&8220;It&8217;s in bad shape,&8221; Anderson said. &8220;Bad, bad shape.&8221;

The first step, City Engineer Gardner said, is to estimate how much it will cost to rebuild the roads.

From there, the city faces the challenge of finding funds for the project. They may ask the county for help at a later date, Gardner said.

&8220;It&8217;s not going to be cheap.&8221;