Slip, sliding away

The southbound lane of Lowell Hill is currently closed for safety issues.

Henry County Engineer Jake Hotchkiss said that his crews are working to shore up a slide from the southbound lane down toward the Skunk River.

“It appears that we have a slide that we’re dealing with on that whole hillside on that curve,” Hotchkiss said. “It appears that there is movement on the whole hillside toward the river.”

The hill is on County Road X23 (New London Road), south of Lowell, just past the bridge over the Skunk River.

The slide has caused a crack in the lane, and the decision was made to close the southbound lane while crews do what they can to temporarily address the issue.

“We have closed that lane right now, and we’re continuing to work on the top of it to close up the crack,” Hotchkiss said. “We are waiting until we can see if the movement will stop or slow down. We don’t feel like it’s safe for traffic to use that lane at this time.

“We have traffic signals up, and we will take them down when we feel we’re at a spot where the lane can handle it.”

He stressed that the work they are doing now is only a temporary solution to the problem.

“We have to try to keep it safe for the public as best we can,” he said. “Any kind of fix right now will be a short-term fix to buy us more time until we get the whole problem taken care of.”

Hotchkiss believes the issue is caused, at least in part, by a drop in the river level at the bottom of the hillside.

“A slide typically results from moisture issues with the hillside being unstable,” he said. “A lot of that has to do with the river. Typically, when you see movement, it’s in coordination when the river levels drop.”

The county is currently looking at a number of options to come up with a long-term solution to the problem.

That, however, will most likely not come until next year.

“Our goal is to try to get us through the winter with this road,” Hotchkiss said. “Whether we can or not depends on Mother Nature at this point. It’s an evolving situation that we’re looking at.

“Hopefully, we’ll get the second lane open temporarily until we have a permanent solution.”