February 25, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
Members of the DeKalb County Highway Department spent the day Monday repairing roads in the county damaged by recent rainy weather and the work will continue in the days ahead.
Roads with the most damage include Smith Fork Road, Davis Hollow Road, Falling Water Road, Harbor Pointe Drive, Park Drive, and Austin Bottom Road.
IMG_4413 from dwayne page on Vimeo.
According to Road Supervisor Danny Hale, embankments on portions of these roads gave way resulting in sections of the roads cracking and collapsing making them impassable.
WJLE joined Road Supervisor Hale on Davis Hollow Road near Dale Ridge Road Monday morning where a road crew gathered after making repairs to a portion of Smith Fork Road.
“Two weeks ago I drove down this road (Davis Hollow Road) and it wasn’t like this. We have had so much rain that the bank on the side I’m assuming couldn’t hold all the pressure from being so wet and the road has just sunk down but this is not the only place. We have this situation in numerous other places across the county where they (roads) have dropped down. We’re working on building them up. Right now we’re bringing them back up with shot rock and filling in with crusher run gravel. If it dries up the repairs will be fine but if there are further problems we’ll probably have to dig out and do something different. Right now we’re trying to get the roads to where people can travel them and we’re working as quickly as we can. Please be aware of our workers in these areas and thank you ahead of time for your patience while we work to correct these problems caused by the record rainfall,” added Hale.
Meanwhile Road Supervisor Hale said he has been in close contact with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and has been told that because of rising lake levels the end of Johnsons Chapel Road will be under water. This is to control extreme flooding in surrounding areas. “Please avoid these areas at all cost and do not attempt to drive through any water or closed roads,” said Road Supervisor Hale.