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Commissioners: Federal assistance approved for Clarkson Road repair

LISBON — An Elkrun Township road in danger of washing away will be repaired after qualifying for federal assistance.

Columbiana County commissioners this week gave county Engineer Bert Dawson the requested permission to hire an engineering firm to perform the design work on the slip, which is located on Clarkson Road about a half mile east of state Route 7.

The road was among many in the county impacted by the series of heavy rains in February that resulted in flooding and landslides. The county received up to eight inches of rain in February, making it the fourth wettest February in the Mahoning Valley in the 120-plus years records have been kept.

This resulted in President Trump issuing a federal disaster declaration for 18 Ohio counties impacted by the heavy rainfall, with the county being one of them. Because of the declaration, communities that sustained damage are eligible to seek federal assistance to repair the damage.

Eight local government agencies, including the engineer’s office, submitted estimated damages totaling $1.23 million, and Clarkson Road was one of the county roads on the list.

Mary Browne, chief design engineer for the county, said the heavy rains washed away about seven feet of hillside bordering Clarkson Road. Fill material was brought in to shore up the hillside, but she said that was only meant as a temporary resolution. “We don’t want to wait until we get another rain like the ones we had,” she said.

The engineering firm hired for the project will come up with an estimated cost, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency will pay 75 percent because of the disaster declaration. The Ohio EMA is contributing 12.5 percent, with the engineer’s office required to come up with the remaining 12.5 percent.

Browne estimated the slip area is about 100 feet long and located in an area where a new underground drain pipe had been installed last year. She said other engineers believe the original fill dirt under the roadway just gave away, which is common for older roads.

Construction is expected to occur this fall.

In other business, commissioners praised county EMA director Peggy Clark and deputy director Brian Rutledge for receiving a perfect score last week in executing the county’s emergency preparedness plan in response to a mock incident at the nuclear power plant in nearby Shippingport, Pa.

“This is a big undertaking and it’s obviously a team effort,” Clark said, noting there were more than 300 local participants in the drill, about half of whom were volunteers.

Clark said the test of the response plan brought in two dozen monitors from state and federal agencies who spent an estimated $40,000 staying at local motels and eating at local restaurants during the week they were in the county.

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