Published: April 23, 2009 11:31 am      

Perilous path

Residents continue to deal with long-term flooding on two county roads

Ron Stover dreads the wet weather, even long after the rains have stopped.

Stover and many of his family members live on 800N near Twelve Mile next to a section of road that is still under water nearly two months since flooding swept through the region.

This is not the only time the Myers Spring employee has encountered the problem. For as long as he can remember, Stover has taken a two-mile detour to and from work during the winter to avoid the potential perils of the flooded road.

“In the center it is probably 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 feet deep,” Stover said. “It comes and goes in the spring, but I’ve been out here for 37 years, and it’s been like that for virtually all of that time.”

His wife, Jackie, agrees. She says that they often look out for vehicles that chance the flooded roadway and have helped stranded motorists in the past.

“The milk tankers that go past here fly through there,” Jackie Stover said. “If you go at it in a straight shot, you’ll be fine. But once the nose drops down we know they are in trouble and we often have to bail them out.”

Flooding on the road is caused by a collapsed clay drainage tile that can no longer accommodate excess water. The result is a severe dip in the road that has continued to sink over time below the adjacent drainage ditches.

Problems are heightened when a nearby pond overflows after heavy rainfall or snow melt. The excess water has nowhere to go and, as a result, pools around the dip in the road, leaving the Stovers and other residents of 800N waiting for the water to diminish before they can drive through safely.

The area’s drainage problems are not limited to 800N.

On nearby 800E, Max Barton and his family are also hindered by a pool of water that will not budge.

“A pickup truck can go through there, but that’s about it,” Barton said. “It’s been like that for about 2 1/2 months now. The county needs to do something about it.”

With little prospect of the routes opening any time soon, the county is exploring options to improve the short- and long-term condition of the roads.

Cass County Highway Superintendent Steve Easley confirmed at Monday’s commissioners meeting that the department hoped to pump the water away from both locations so that the roads could be reopened.

He also said the county was consulting with engineers to develop a long-term improvement plan.

Easley expects to announce plans at the commissioners’ May 4 meeting.

“Our short-term goal is to get the road back open,” Easley said. “But we need to get things done to benefit it in the long term. We are going to take some time to find out what the solution is, and hopefully we have enough money in the budget to cover that.”

The Stovers and Barton say the county has avoided work on the roads in the past because of budget constraints.

Commissioner Dave Arnold said the problem was something the drainage board encountered regularly because of the deterioration of drainage tiles throughout the county.

He explained the procedure in place to pay for required repair work involved raising assessments on the land and accumulating the funds to pay for the repairs.

“It might be that the landowner has only been paying $1, $2 or $3 per acre to maintain that drain,” Arnold said. “At a public hearing, we would give an estimate of how much it will cost to replace the tile and propose to raise the assessment to say $75 per acre for five years up to a maximum of eight years when we would get the job done.”

Arnold said that was the most likely solution to the problems on both roads and that landowners would be notified about a public hearing in a certified letter.

At that meeting, they will have the opportunity to voice their opinions.

“We really want their input,” Arnold said.

With a solution to their problem seemingly a while away, the Stovers are consigned to driving around the low spot in the roadway for a few more years.

They admit, though, that there is one upside to their dilemma — the aquatic bird life that now resides in and around the flooded roadway.

“We’d miss the ducks and the geese if they ever fixed it,” Jackie Stover said.

Kevin Smith can be contacted at (574) 732-5148 or via e-mail at kevin.smith@pharostribune.com