Weather leads to road woes
Published 12:00 am Saturday, May 8, 2004
ROCK CAMP- At 77, Clarence Baker is still fit and healthy -
which is good since he has to walk a mile to get to his car these days.
"I go out across the road and cross the creek and then through a field," Baker said. "My neighbor lets me park my car at her place, you know."
In April, heavy rains sent part of the hillside overlooking Corbin Creek Road (Township Road 117 N) onto the roadway, blocking Baker's passage in and out by automobile. The hillside has been sliding slowly downward ever since. Thursday, Baker looked out to find a tree had slid off the hill and was standing upright in the middle of the road.
Baker has a lot of company these days. All across Lawrence County, hillside slips are impeding travel and creating headaches for road crews, who are having to clean up what Mother Nature brought down.
Lynd's list
This time of year, Lawrence County Engineer David Lynd has a list of what roads will be blacktopped and what roads will be chipped and sealed. This year, Lynd's usual list is on the back burner as his road crews contend with a new list of more than a dozen hillside slips. A slip on Cauley Creek Road (County Road 46) got attention last week, as did Chesapeake-Symmes Creek Road (County Road 123).
Within the next few weeks, road crews may be driving piling alongside the roadway on Taylor Ridge Road to shore up the pavement there.
What caused all these slips?
The weather, Lynd said. Heavy rains this year and last year and the ice storm of February 2003 caused erosion that in turn caused the slips.
"It's funny because we didn't get that many until this year," Lynd said. "We didn't have slides last year, but we're getting them this year. I don't know about the ice so much as the water. Obviously it ( the ice) had an effect on rock. The ice storm did damage trees and the root system is what holds the soil in place."
Lynd said Lawrence County's geology is also to blame.
"Lawrence County has a lot of shale rock close to the surface," he said. "When it's exposed to weather and moisture, it starts to deteriorate. It's not solid rock. Once it gets going…"
Lynd said having all these hillside slips to repair means that other road projects will have to wait. He does not know how much money his office will spend this year fixing hillside slips. For example, if one slip costs $10,000 in labor and materials to repair, he would have to multiply that by the 12 or 14 slips his crews will be battling this year. Lynd said he expects the figure to be quite large.
Over hill and dale
Like Lynd, township trustees and village officials are not enjoying a leisurely spring. In Lawrence Township alone, three hillside slips are keeping workers busy.
In Perry Township, a hillside slip on Little Ice Creek Road (Township Road 102) has blocked travel for residents there.
In Chesapeake, Mayor Jimmy Justice said village officials are considering how to repair a slip on Symmes Creek Road near the boat ramp, where
a 300-to 400-foot section of the roadway has dropped substantially.
"We've had problems there when we have a whole lot of rain," Justice said. "It has sunk down bad. We're trying to figure out how to get money to deal with it."
Justice said this road project comes on the heels of major repairs to North Huntington Heights Boulevard late last year and early this year.
Meanwhile, Ohio Department of
Transportation crews are keeping an eye on slips on the hillside overlooking State Route 7 in the area between North Huntington Heights and its intersection with State Route 243. District 9 spokeswoman Kathleen Fuller said the "Narrows" section of State Route 7 has also seen its share of attention this year. Fields Excavating was contracted in early March to break rock and remove debris from the hillside and shoulder area at the 18.3-mile marker on State Route 7 after a hillside slip.
The problem of soggy soil is not only a Lawrence County issue. Officials in neighboring counties have similar stories to tell.
"I talked to the engineer in Pike County and he has 12 up there," Lynd said. "All along the river, they're having problems. Belmont County has problems up there."
Best of a bad situation
Baker, meanwhile, maintains a positive outlook about his predicament. Being busy, the retired minister keeps walking that two-mile, round-trip back and forth from his house to his car and back again - without a single complaint. Asked how he is coping with his temporary predicament, Baker was good-natured and philosophical.
"It's good exercise," he said.