T-L Photo/ ADAM TYCHONSKI Mays School Road in Tippecanoe has been closed since February because of massive slip damage.

TIPPECANOE — Mays School Road is completely impassable as a result of a major slip, and residents are expressing frustration at the long wait for a repair.

The damage first appeared several weeks ago, when many areas throughout the Ohio Valley experienced heavy rainfall and flooding. Now residents in Tippecanoe are looking for answers on when they can expect their road to be fixed.

One resident, who declined to provide his name, said the road is unusable.

“It’s not just a small hole that can be maneuvered around,” he said. “This is a whole section of our road.”

Harrison County Commissioner Don Bethel said county leaders are aware of the issue and are looking for solutions. For example, he said the county engineer’s office recently conducted core sample drilling to get the ball rolling. He also said the engineer’s office is working to get Mays School Road included on the list of roads throughout the county that were damaged because of heavy rainfall and flooding in February.

If the road is included on the list, it could become eligible for Federal emergency Management Agency funding that would cover at least some of the cost of the repair.

County Engineer Doug Crabtree said he agreed the damage to the road is a FEMA issue and said the route will get fixed along with all the other qualified roads in the county once funding is approved. He and the commissioners acknowledged the state of the road is causing inconvenience for residents.

Bethel said the road should be fixed as soon as possible. However, Crabtree said there is an alternate route available. He said that detour adds less than a half mile to travel through the area. He said motorists can take Stahl Road to Fulton Road and get where they need to go.

Crabtree said he has to take that detour because he also is someone who would use Mays School Road daily. In fact, he said, it is the main road he uses to get to Cadiz on a regular basis.

In an effort to help residents of that area, the commissioners and engineer said they plan to better maintain Stahl and Fulton roads until the time when they can properly fix Mays School Road.