Two roads partly washed away
Published 9:43 pm Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Heavy rains turned several roads into rivers Monday, washing away sections of two county highways.
Parts of County Roads 61 and 480 gave way, according to County Engineer Tony Wearren. Both are paved highways.
The worst damage was to County Road 61 in the Jumbo community. Debris collected by the floodwater caused supporting bands on pipes underneath the bridge to come loose.
“It just ate the road up from the bottom,” Wearren said.
Repairs on the highway are expected to take two weeks.
Traffic is being rerouted. Anyone south of the bridge can take County Road 55 to get back to Alabama 145.
County Road 480 in Verbena also suffered damage Monday. However, the one pipe under that road is smaller, and repairs should have been completed Tuesday.
Several county dirt roads remained closed due to water covering the highway. Most of these roads are in flat-lying areas, and many have single-lane, wooden bridges.
Roads that were partly closed as of Tuesday morning include:
-County Road 455 in Clanton
-County Road 173 near the Chilton/Shelby County line
-County Road 2 near Montevallo
-County Road 46 near Montevallo
-County Road 109 near Montevallo
-County Road 534 near Marbury
Wearren said those roads would reopen as soon as the water recedes.