BOYNE CITY -- Joe Soulliere stood in his backyard near Boyne City-Charlevoix Road and watched as vehicles rumbled across patched potholes.

"I don't drive that road unless I have to. I don't want my truck torn to pieces. It's no easy thing on the front end of a vehicle," he said. "With it so rough on the edges, you have to drive right down the middle of the road."

The highway, built in the late 1950s, was never resurfaced over the decades and now is the busiest road in Charlevoix County, carrying more than 3,000 vehicles daily between Boyne City and Charlevoix. Some area residents said they want to find a way to fix the east-west route.

"It's deteriorated to a road of hazard," said Jerry Matelski of Boyne City, an organizer of a new group called Concerned Citizens of Charlevoix County.