Highway 92 between Ainsworth and Columbus Junction re opened

COLUMBUS JUNCTION - After a mudslide tore the pavement away from the shoulder of the road in May, Highway 92 west of Columbus Junction is has been repaired and is now open.

Louisa County Engineer Larry Roehl said the saturated ground created a massive mudslide, which resulted in unsafe conditions. There was a void under the pavement, which dropped one to two feet itself. The entire shoulder of the road was gone, prompting the road closure. The highway was closed on May 27.

DeLong Construction of Washington was issued a contract by the Iowa DOT to re-excavate the soft soil and put new paving in. Roehl said the work on the 300 foot stretch of highway was expected to be completed by Labor Day weekend and was announced as reopened by the Louisa County Sheriff's Office on the afternoon of Thursday, Aug. 29.

The project took longer than expected due to unforeseen problems under the pavement.

'I visited with the state people on this ... first they had to do some soil exploration to determine what felt apart rather than just throw something on top and have that fail again. They determined it was a much deeper problem than initially (thought), and they had to come in and dig,” he said.