NATCHEZ — Adams County is close to starting construction on the Robin’s Lake Road dam project. And the dam is need of repair.

As of Wednesday, county officials were still waiting for one area resident to sign an easement granting the county access to their land to refurbish an existing roadbed near the dam.

The county needs the adjunct road because the bridge that provides access to the dam is not strong enough to support the heavy trucks that will be transporting repair material to the area.

County officials said once the final easement is signed, the road construction will only take about two days.

And once the temporary road is completed work on the dam can begin.

And the work do be done will need to address to separate issues.

The spillway side of the dam that handles drainage during heavy rains is badly eroded. And the three large pipes that facilitate the drainage often become clogged and prevent drainage causing the lake to actually back up on to the road.

And while area residents are excited they have seen the county come close to repairing the dam in the past only to have their hopes dashed.

They hope this time will be different.

“Every time we have a heavy rain we go out to check the dam. And when it rains through the night we can’t wait for daylight,” said Fran Brellenthin who lives near the dam said.

Brellenthin said if the dam actually does get fixed it would be a great weight off her mind.

In February of 2004 the dam gave residents a real scare.

Brellenthin said a heavy rain caused the lake to back on to the road making driving impossible.

John and Surget Gormanous live on a portion of the road that was left inaccessible after the 2004 storm.

“It is time to get this thing fixed,” John Gormanous said.

Gormanous said that if the road were to be washed away many residents would be stranded and without running water since the water supply line runs along the dam.

“Talking time is over, we need to see action,” he said.

According to area residents several years ago the county was prepared to start repairs on the dam but let their funding lapse.

In actuality that was not the case.

Adams County supervisor, Sammy Cauthen said, that in 2004 when they attempted to start the project easements could not be acquired in time and federal funding was pulled.

The final easement for the project is scheduled to be signed on Thursday.

T & F Construction in Vicksburg has been contracted to do the work.