Landslide in Monroe County caused by rain
WOODSFIELD — One lane of Ohio 536 is closed between Monroe County Road 4 and Salem Township Road 370 due to a landslide, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation.
Ashley Rittenhouse, public information officer of ODOT District 10, said the road has been slowly slipping for months and, after receiving about an inch of rain on Sunday, the road is no longer safe.
“That location has been on our radar for a while. We noticed it had been moving. We did patch it this past summer where it was cracking,” Rittenhouse said. “It’s been slow movement, nothing that really concerned us up to this point. But then of course, we have received a lot of rain here in the past few days. So that’s really what resulted in it significantly cracking like we’re seeing now and requiring us to close the lane and put up temporary traffic signals.”
Rittenhouse said the lane will be closed with the traffic signals in place for the “foreseeable future.”
“There’s not an estimate on how long that will be in place. We do have engineers reviewing the location in the slip to determine how to move forward with the repair,” she said.
Rittenhouse said that several other roads were temporarily closed on Sunday and Monday due to flooding. She added that road closures and traffic updates can be viewed on ohgo.com or the OHGO app.
She recommends that people check the site any time severe weather strikes.
The district posts some road closures and construction updates on the “Ohio Department of Transportation Southeastern Ohio District 10” Facebook page.
The district is also working to repair potholes in several counties. Rittenhouse said that this time of year is “pothole season.”
According to a post on the ODOT Facebook page, “The primary cause of potholes is the freeze-thaw cycle. Recently, temperatures have transitioned from very cold, with snow and ice, to now warm temperatures. Our crews will be out all across the state over the next several days/weeks repairing potholes with a temporary material until a more permanent solution can be made in warmer temperatures.”
Rittenhouse asks that drivers move over or slow down for flashing lights to help keep workers safe.
Drivers can report potholes on state routes and get more information about filing a damage claim at transportation.ohio.gov/damagereport.
For more information about ODOT District 10, call 740-568-3904, send an email to Ashley.Rittenhouse@dot.ohio.gov, or visit transportation.ohio.gov.