A landslide remediation project on U.S. Route 50 in Ross County is progressing well, and with construction of a new retaining wall nearly complete it will soon be time for paving to begin.

The original landslide project, which called for reconstructing U.S. 50 just west of California Hollow Road and three miles east of Bainbridge, was redesigned to include building a 128-foot drilled shaft retaining wall at the west end of the construction zone with 32, 90-foot beams.

Following a summer shutdown for the redesign, crews returned to work in mid-September to begin beam installation, and now, with nearly all the beams in place, the new retaining wall is getting closer to completion. During the next two weeks the contractors will be installing walers, concrete lagging panels and plug piles. Once this is complete, they will be ready to pave the roadway.

However, in order to complete the bulk of the work and have restrictions lifted before the Thanksgiving holiday, it will be necessary to close the route for paving.

“Moving into November, we will be up against the weather, so if we do not allow the contractors to close the route for paving, U.S. 50 could be restricted to one lane through the winter months and until early spring,” said Ohio Department of Transportation – District 9 Deputy Director Vaughn Wilson.

Currently, it is anticipated that U.S. 50 will be closed Nov. 13-22 and during this time the contractors will remove the temporary roadway, install a drainage culvert, place embankment, install guardrail and pave the base course. Once this is completed, the road can then be open to two lanes with no restrictions.

Completion of this and the work leading up to this point, though, will be dependent upon the weather. And although the project may not be fully completed by the Nov. 22 opening, any final construction work will be undertaken next spring, and the route will remain open to two lanes, with traffic being maintained by flaggers.

While the route is closed, traffic will be detoured by way of SR 41 at Bainbridge and SR 28 at Slate Mills. Motorists using any local roads are urged to use additional caution, reduce their speed and allow additional travel time.

Submitted by Kathleen Fuller, public information officer, Ohio Department of Transportation – District 9.