CHESAPEAKE — In the past seven years, infrastructure in the village of Chesapeake has undergone approximately $1.35 million in upgrades.

Three retaining walls have been constructed along Rockwood Avenue or neighborhoods in that area along with sidewalk construction and resurfacing of the village main street.

The village still faces more work, however, to revamp aging roadways and improve services.

Right now Park Drive off of Rockwood is the site of two growing repair problems.

One is a collapsing culvert that started falling in mid-summer, according to Mayor Dick Gilpin.

“It hasn’t affected the road yet,” Gilpin said. “So far the first estimate in is $10,000. We are just starting to get estimates. We’re not sure how we will fix it. We will take volunteer help. The problem is the culvert is about 10 feet down. If it wasn’t so deep in the ground it would be easy to fix.”

The second is a growing slip on the drive, which started over a year ago.

“The slip is caused by excavation on the hill,” the mayor said. “The road is still passable.”

Gilpin has conferred with Patrick Leighty of E.L. Robinson Engineering for possible ways to repair the slip.

Also plaguing the village is the traffic control signal at the foot of the Robert C. Byrd Bridge linking Chesapeake to Huntington. Even though the intersection is on a state route, maintenance of the light is the responsibility of the village according to the Ohio Department of Transportation, Gilpin said.

“It doesn’t happen very often, but it creates a real hassle when it goes out,” he said. “We’ve only had the power go out completely once, but had to cycle to flashing several times and call in a contractor.”

The last time it went out it was for 24 hours and cost the village approximately $600 to repair.

“We are actively looking to fix some of these problems, but our big problem is finance,” Gilpin said. “Like everything else, nothing is cheap.”