LIVE OAK, Fla. — Ricky Gamble doesn’t like the way 152nd Street — County Road 252 extension — looks.

Gamble, the District 3 commissioner and the chairman of the Board of County Commissioners, admitted at Tuesday night’s county board meeting, that the road is ugly.

But as much as he doesn’t like it, Gamble also isn’t sure there is much more the county can do with the problematic road-widening project.

“I don’t know that we’ll ever be happy with it,” Gamble said. “I’m not going to lie to you about it, I’m not. But I think we probably got as much as we’re going to get out of it.

“From what they’ve done and the corrections they’ve made, it’s still ugly.

“This runs right through the heart of my district. There is nobody more sick about it than me, I can tell you.”

Ugly or not, Gamble and the board approved paying Anderson Columbia Co. for the work associated with the widening of that road at Tuesday’s meeting by a 3-2 vote. Don Hale and Larry Sessions voted against releasing the payment of $308,039.96 to Anderson Columbia for the work.

However, the board did hold back a payment of $173,481.43 — the retainage amount for the entire repaving and widening project on the road, which also included 225th Road.

The road, which is in District 3, was repaved late last year. After an 18-inch expansion was added to both sides of the road, it didn’t take long this spring for problems to arise.

Gamble said in a few spots, the road slid off the base.

In others, grass was sprouting through the middle of the asphalt.

“The not pretty part I can deal with,” Gamble said. “I didn’t like the fact that I could have baled hay off the asphalt. That part’s the problem.

“There were places you couldn’t see asphalt for the grass.”

Sessions added: “We mow the sides of the road, not the road.”

Once county officials flagged those problem areas, Anderson Columbia returned and repaired the issues.

Gamble said borings taken by Anderson Columbia as well as North Florida Professional Services, on behalf of the county, showed that the project was done to the specifications of the contract.

The Florida Department of Transportation, which is funding the project, gave its final approval on the project Monday.

With approval from DOT and the county’s engineers, Gamble and James Pitman, with North Florida Professional Services, said there isn’t much left for the county to do.

“I think you’d be in for a big fight to get more,” Pitman said.

Gamble added: “Our only choice is to not make the payment and go to court over it. Or pay it. That’s the two choices.”

According to County Attorney Jimmy Prevatt, the work is fully guaranteed for a year for any problems that arise. After that, any latent defects would be covered for five years.

Still, the board decided to hold the retainage until the next meeting to see if there was anything else they could do to alleviate some of the concerns.

“As much as they’ve got going on, I don’t look for a whole lot of charity at this point,” Pitman advised.