County road expected to stay closed for at least a month

AINSWORTH - A stretch of 190th street between between Yucca Avenue and Louisa-Washington Road was closed April 2, after heavy rainfall washed out a culvert on the roadway.

Washington County Engineer Jacob Thorius said it would likely stay that way for the next month at a minimum, and cost the county around $75,000 to repair and reopen.

“I think we’ve been able to salvage roughly half of it, the outlet side, and we’re getting estimates on materials replace the inlet,” Thorius said. “In the meantime, that road will be closed for at least another month, maybe two or three months, by the time we get materials and find time to work it into our schedule.”

  Buy Photo

The damage came from unusually high rainfall during the week, long awaited by farmers if now somewhat dreaded by road repair crews. A crop progress report from the USDA said Eastern Iowa locations had “above-average precipitation” ranging from 25 to 300% more than normal, for the week ending April 8.

An Iowa Environmental Mesonet Data station in Crawfordsville, a few miles from the closed road, reported heavy rainfall leading up to the closure as well. The area took on 0.6 inches of water from 9-10 a.m. alone on April 2, and a total of 2.86 inches between March 31 and April 2, more than it got in the entirety of April last year.

Despite the heavy rainfall, Thorius said he didn’t expect similar issues elsewhere in the county, even if it precipitation continues.

"This was a fluke thing,“ he said in an email. ”It is not something we expect to happen, but has been known to happen every now and then around the country, especially on big rain events.“

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com