(a)
(1) The State Highway Commission is authorized and empowered to enter into contracts with as many as two (2) counties of this state under the terms of which, in consideration of the sum agreed to be paid by the particular county, the commission will be authorized, permitted, and required to assume the work of construction, repair, and maintenance of all the county roads in the particular county or, part thereof that may be agreed upon in the contract.
(2) The counties are authorized and empowered to enter into contracts with the commission.
(b) The contracts authorized by this section may provide for the use of the machinery and equipment belonging to the county, or of the machinery and the equipment belonging to the commission, or the machinery and equipment of both, in the construction, repair, and maintenance of county roads.
(c) No contract herein authorized shall be for a period extending beyond the end of the term for which the county judge of the contracting county was elected.
(d) Nothing contained in this section shall have the effect of adding any county roads to the state highway system, nor shall any contracts remove from the county court of the contracting county exclusive jurisdiction over the roads within that county.
(e) Nothing in this section shall reduce or diminish, or have any effect upon, the amount of money now paid by the state to the various counties for road purposes.