We appreciate that the wheels of government turn slowly — painfully so sometimes — but we also know an emergency when we see it.

A segment of crumbling roadway on the outer reaches of Martin Luther King Jr. Road in northern Adams County certainly fits being described as an emergency.

The road has been washing out for a few years now, but county supervisors intent on getting someone else to pay for the county’s own problems have been watching nd waiting.

Now the roadway has crumbled more and more to the point at which one lane of the road has been closed.

Federal money has been approved, but releasing funds can often take years.

Unfortunately, as one supervisor pointed out earlier this week, as the roadway’s foundation has become more and more impacted by erosion over time the initial cost estimate is probably far less than what actual cost to repair will be.

Supervisors began discussing the notion that the county might need to simply take on the responsibility — and the costs — for the road itself. But supervisors stopped short of actually taking action to do so.

As more rain is forecast in the coming days, we can only hope and pray the road will not continue to crumble into a more costly pile of rubble.

We’ve long urged city and county leaders to work hard to control their own spending habits and build up a rainy day or emergency fund for projects just like this.

If you don’t believe there’s a need, drive out Martin Luther King Jr. Road and gaze down into the ravine where the shoulder of the road once was.