TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – Defiance County has closed a portion of Power Dam Road for safety reasons.
A portion of the road collapsed, sending beams and more into the river and the chief engineer admits the design plan didn’t work.
Neighbors told 13 Action News they weren’t surprised when it happened.
“It’s a hot mess,” local resident Cheryl Weidenhamer said. “It’s a safety issue somebody could’ve really gotten hurt.”
For two years, the chief engineer admits the roadway was a safety concern and in 2022, they raised the road with grant funding from the Ohio EPA using tire shreds.
“I got a little bit greedy, and I wanted to raise this spot as well,” Warren Schlatter, the Defiance County Engineer, said. “The goal was to raise the road above the 100-year flood elevation. When we get an extreme flood event, we don’t have anybody stranded.”
The county didn’t have money to work on Power Dam Road, so they came up with a makeshift design, but that failed.
“For the second spot, we tried to use some recycled bridge beams as a roadside wall so we could raise the road,” said Schlatter.
Residents said the roadway started cracking.
“It was kind of separating it. You could see the guardrail leaning over,” Weidenhamer said. “I don’t think it’s going to be long before the other side goes. It’s cracking also.”
On Sunday, the bridge beams collapsed taking out the guardrail and part of the road.
“One side fell down and the other side is doing ok,” Schlatter said. “Will probably at some point try to proactively address that side as well so we don’t have a potential feature failure.”
There’s no word on when crews will complete the repairs, which will cost taxpayers $200,000.
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This article was published by WTVG on 2024-12-11 23:24:00
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