Belmont County Engineer seeks funding as massive sinkhole grows
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE - A sinkhole on Country Club Road in St. Clairsville won’t stop growing and Belmont County Engineer Terry Lively is searching for funding to stop it.
When it first opened up last August, it was as big as a football. Now, it’s over 20 feet deep and nine feet in diameter. Lively said he first learned about the sinkhole on August 21, but heavy rainfall quickly expanded it.
"We very quickly realized this was a much bigger problem than what was showing," Lively said. "A 20-foot section of that culvert had folded up and ejected itself out the outlet of the culvert, so there was a big cavern underneath the road that wasn’t showing."
He added the road was immediately closed and barricades were put in place for safety.
"We brought equipment out to knock the top of it in so that it wouldn’t collapse," Lively said.
The entire 80 foot section of the culvert will need to be replaced, which will be expensive, Lively said. He believes the project will cost roughly $500,000, which the county currently does not have in its 2026 budget. He has talked with FEMA for potential funding but has not confirmed either way if FEMA will be able to help.
"Hopefully, they’re going to help us out with that, but we’re gonna fix it as soon as we can fix it, with or without FEMA," Lively said. "It may be next year’s budget before I can do anything with it. I don’t have the money left in this year’s budget to do it, that’s for sure."
He understands it’s an inconvenience to residents along the road and is grateful for their patience.
"The good news is no one is being cut off from access to their house or from emergency services or anything like that. Everybody can get to their house. It’s just a detour," Lively said.
As far as when the road will re-open, Lively said it’s too far out to even guess.
"Once we get the funding in place, we can get the plans and I can get environmental permits in place, and materials ordered and get started that whole process," Lively said.
"But, I mean, you’re talking once we have the resources, it’s going to be at least three or four months worth of work to get it replaced. And that’s assuming three or four months of good weather, which obviously we’re going into winter here. So even if I got the funding today, I don’t think we would be done by the end of the year."
Because of this, the road will be closed for the foreseeable future, Lively said.
"We’re not happy about it any more than anybody else is. It’s really messing up our snow routes. We’re going to have to come in from both directions," Lively said. "It's an inconvenience for everybody. I get that, but I can’t change the reality of the funding."
Resident Jay Stephens said the detour is a hindrance due to it adding several miles to his daily trip.
"It shut our road down, and anywhere we go, we've got to go south, and then turn around and go back north," Stephens said. "I got a lot of hay on the other side of that culvert, and it’s going to take me a 16-mile round trip to get it all back around and it’s only a half a mile from my house."