Getting to Banner Road from U.S. Highway 81 on a paved road in the Dover area will be a chore in the near future.

With the primary eastwest thoroughfare connecting Dover to Crescent still unusable due to three miles of total replacement work, an alternative has been County Road E700, which takes motorists east from U.S. 81 to Banner Road, where they could then detour south to get back on the Dover-Crescent road.

Also known as Beard Blacktop, CR E700 is now also in the midst of total replacement for its entire nine-mile stretch.

It continues beyond Banner for another three miles, with pavement terminating at Central Baptist Church.

Crews have been working quickly on this project, moving a mile a day to take up the existing road, grind the material, replace it, compact it and smooth it out.

Crews are expected to begin placing the chip and seal material on May 5.

In the meantime, some area residents have commented that even in its current dirt road form, it is already in better shape than the past decade as a paved road.

While crews continue to work on the Beard Blacktop project, official detours are State Highway 51 between Hennessey and Banner (for a fully-paved route) or CR E710 (unpaved) from the Dover Park east to Banner.

Another long-stretch unto official alternative is the gravel-topped CR E680, three miles north of Dover, taking drivers 5.5 miles from U.S. 81 to Banner Road without stops.