County Road 231 has been a road less traveled for at least one driver trying to avoid a mess.

"I normally go the other way around, but I just wanted to see how they were progressing," said Terry Southerland, a Gainesville resident.

Twelve miles and years of weathering are being over hauled on County Road 231, from SR 121 to SR 235.

"There's a pilot truck that takes the cars around the construction site so there is one lane closed," said Ruth Findley, project manager.

The last time this kind of work was done to the road, Findley says, was in the 80's.

"They did a micro surfacing on the project," she said.

Bobby Hales has been living on 231 for eighteen years.

"I''ve seen some bad accidents," he said.

Something Hales says could have been avoided if county commissioners were a little more aggressive.

"The public drives up and down roads every day, but they always seem to use the money for something else," he said.

"There's a lot of roads in the county- we just try to prioritize them, and the county commissioners try to prioritize them," said Findley.

In the meantime, drivers have been getting creative.

"I would normally try to straddle the pot holes and stuff- get over into the left hand lane at times," said Southerland.

That will continue, at least until both lanes open back up.

Phase two of the project is expected to start next year, and will be finished completely in 2013.