Published: November 20, 2009 07:24 pm      

It’s back-iston! Clarksville cuts ribbon on repaired Blackiston Mill Road

Champagne, red ribbons and gigantic scissors were the order of the day Friday as Clarksville officials ceremoniously re-opened Blackiston Mill Road.

The road has been closed since an early August flood washed it out at a small creek known as Dead Man’s Hollow.

The road, raised now by more than five feet, barely resembles its former self.

“We should call it Dead Man’s Dip,” joked Clarksville Town Council President Greg Isgrigg.

The 40-inch pipe that ran beneath the road has been replaced with an eight-foot by 12-foot culvert.

An approximately 600-foot stretch of the road was repaired as a part of the $500,000 project. The road has been widened from 10-foot lanes to 12-foot and shoulders were added.

The road serves as a major vein between Clarksville and New Albany. Though a major flood on Aug. 4 was the impetus for the project, officials said the road has needed work for a number of years.

Initially, it was supposed to only take 30 days to fix it, but additional rain hampered the progress, Isgrigg said.

There were other challenges as well, according to Harold Hart, engineer and surveyor with the firm Jacobi, Toombs and Lanz.

Water and gas lines had to be worked around. At one point, a sewer force main in the area had to be suspended in the air with straps in order to keep work moving and keep sewer service on.

“There was a lot of coordination,” he said.

Hart also noted how important the area was in terms of a storm water drainage area, saying that the watershed for Dead Man’s Hollow — a tributary of Silver Creek — starts as far away as Woodstock Drive.

The last bit of paving was completed this week.

“It’s been a long 30 days,” Isgrigg joked. “I’m glad to get this in here.”



PROJECT NUMBERS

• COST: About $500,000

• ORIGINAL ESTIMATE: $650,000

• ROAD ELEVATED BY: 5 to 6 feet

• TONS OF FILL: 5,000

• INSTALLED: 8-feet by 12-feet culvert beneath the road