The Ross County county engineer is responding quickly to a small area of collapsing hillside threatening to block a dead-end road, and is also ready to start a 1 1/2-year project to replace a century-old overpass of a railroad.
County Engineer Charlie Ortman chatted with the Ross County Commissioners in their weather-delayed meeting on Wednesday.
Just southwest of Chillicothe, Alum Cliffs Road is down to one lane little more than a mile from Polk Hollow Road, less than halfway to its end. Half of the pavement has collapsed where the road descends a hillside. (See my Google Maps illustrations of it in the below video.)
Ortman said it’s not as bad as infamous Cooks Hill Road where the entire road has sagged and is undrivable, but the consensus was that there are 200 to 300 residents past that point who would be marooned if Alum Cliffs Road gets completely blocked off.
He said some have urged him to just dig into the hillside and dump the fill below the small landslide, but since that involves a floodplain, it would get into complicated regulations. For now, Ortman’s quick fix is to drive pilings below the slide and hold in the fill with guardrail panels to stop it from worsening, and possibly add pilings to the upper side of the road to anchor the patch.
He said an engineered solution will come later…but soon.
1 of 1 Alum Cliffs Road in Ross County where half of the road is falling off a hillside.
A little east of Chillicothe, Ortman has plans to replace the almost-100-year-old overpass of Charleston Pike over the CSX-T railroad. The plate-girder bridge was built about 1927 when a branch of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad was built through the Scioto Valley, and is narrow by today’s standards.
Ortman said they will create a whole new road alignment, which will allow the current road to remain open one mile past the Corner Market during construction for about a year and a half. (See my Google Maps illustrations of it, also in the video below.)
The county had to document that they have $2.17M in escrow in case local funds are needed, to get the project started. Ortman didn’t remember the multilmllion dollar price tag that will be paid by the state.
The overpass bridge of Charleston Pike over the CSX-T (C&O) railroad in Ross County.
I also asked him how the county snow removal went with the approximate eight to 10 inches over the previous few days.
Ortman said he has two superintendents who follow the department’s snow policy to direct plowing efforts. He said he does not have the manpower to run two shifts like the state, but it went well considering everything.
The Ross County Engineer has a website.
Ross County Engineer Charlie Ortman explains an emergency road situation, plus plans for another road.
Find more in the article on the Scioto Post, including a video compilation with Google Map zooms.
Kevin Coleman covers local government and culture for the Scioto Post and iHeart Media Southern Ohio. For stories or questions, contact Kevin Coleman or the iHeart Southern Ohio Newsroom.