Won’t be fixed until next year

By Wednesday afternoon county engineer Doug Cade will know if the landslide on County Road 32 can be fixed by January, the earliest possible date.

On Saturday Cade was notified that about 180 feet of the county road, also known as Eaton Road, past Sky Lake, had dropped about a half-foot. Within 24 hours that slip had lengthened to about six feet.

“Part of it was caused because we had saturating rains this spring,” Cade said. “But also there is work being done by a contractor just below the slope that has caused the slip to move.”

On Monday Cade applied for emergency funding to the state to get the project on the fast track.

“The engineering consultant was out on the site and hopefully we can get a contract next week to do the design,” he said. “With the Ohio competitive bidding rules, the earliest to open bids (for the work) would be some time in January.”

The project is estimated to cost more than a half-million dollars.

“If we do not receive state funding, it would have to be done by our people,” Cade said. “It is a very large project and is something difficult for us to construct with the equipment we have.”

On average 720 vehicles use the road, which Cade says is not in an isolated area. Residents can use State Route 243 and State Route 7 as access routes.

“They may have to drive a couple of miles out of their way,” he said.