NEWS

Council approves emergency repairs for Ohio 541 slip

Joe Williams
Reporter

COSHOCTON – City Council has agreed to hire a Colorado firm that specializes in repairing landslides to fix a recurring slip on Cambridge Road, or Ohio 541, north of Skyline Heights.

Monday night, the panel unanimously waived reading requirements and passed an emergency measure allowing the mayor or service director to contract with GeoStabilization International of Grand Junction, Colorado. The company is authorized by the Ohio Department of Transportation to provide its services for such repairs.

The work will cost a total of $196,606, according to Coshocton Service Director Jerry Stenner.

The city has asked for an emergency grant of $157,285 from the Ohio Public Works Commission to help pay for the repairs, Stenner said.

Monday night, council also unanimously authorized Stenner or the mayor to apply for those emergency funds via a separate resolution.

“We’ve got it asked for, and we believe we’re going to get it,” Stenner said, “but it’s not a done deal yet.”

If the emergency grant is approved, the city will pay up to $39,321 in cash and in-kind contributions for its 20 percent share, he said.

The work will not begin until the city receives word on the funding, Stenner said. Officials have closed one lane of that stretch of highway until the repairs are completed.

According to the city’s application for the OPWC grant, on average, 4,000 cars travel that part of Ohio 541 each day.

Heavy rains in May eroded the bank alongside Cambridge Road, cracking the pavement and causing the guardrail to dip between Skyline Heights and Buena Vista Drive. State highway officials then closed the northbound lane for temporary repairs.

That temporary fix did not hold. A second slip occurred on June 19, and a third on June 25, which impacted the guardrail, but not the road.

ODOT had agreed to complete the initial repairs to the slip in order to prepare the road for milling and paving 4.9 miles of Ohio 541 through Coshocton, Stenner said. The Shelly Company of Thornville is doing that work at a cost of $2.1 million.

“Technically, we are in charge of maintenance of roadways in city limits,” Stenner said. “They were quite willing to do a quick fix so we could get the paving project moving.”

ODOT is overseeing the Ohio 541 paving project and is paying 80 percent of the cost of repaving and striping, with the city picking up the remaining 20 percent. That work is currently underway.

jwilliams6@gannett.com

740-295-3417

Twitter: @Joeadvocate