PORT CLINTON – Plasterbed Road remains closed due to recurring sinkholes, including at least one that opened more than a year ago. A planning study has been requested by the county engineer to see how much a fix would cost.
A 1.02 mile section of Plasterbed Road between State Road County Road 8 and Lockwood County Road 133 sits over abandoned gypsum mines. Fluctuating water levels from the Sandusky Bay cause recurring sinkholes in the road.
After two years of being closed, the county commissioners decided to keep the road closed in their meeting last January.
While work has been done to the road, Chief Deputy Engineer Craig Miller noted that Plasterbed Road “will remain closed for the foreseeable future as further evaluations are being made.”
Three solutions are on the table: filling the mine, abandoning Plasterbed Road or relocating the road. Any other options would also be considered and welcome.
On Jan. 12, the Ottawa County Engineer’s Office posted a request for letters of interest, which Miller equated to a bid on conducting a planning study to deal with the problem.
“We are looking to consultants to bring somebody on board to do the planning study,” Miller said. “The study is looking to consider those options, evaluate those options and also consider possible alternatives. This is kind of step one of a multi-step process.”
He did not know how much the long-term solution to the problem, or even the plan, might cost.
The planning study would require an engineering or architectural company with experience in geotechnical and mine-related instability issues. They would start the study in May and finish in six months. It would include estimated costs, and possible methods for accomplishing the task, and ultimate feasibility.
“There is one large hole,” Miller said. “It appeared, has been filled and it has since failed again. Then there are other areas with nothing that has subsidence at the surface, but has indications of it maybe happening. So, yes, as of right now, there is one distinct sinkhole.”
The actual size of the sinkhole is unknown.
“Essentially, there are existing mines,” Miller said. “It’s all connected to Lake Erie and Sandusky Bay, and as the water levels change, there’s water flowing in and out. It’s always changing. When it was fixed, the mines were filled with grout. One of the possible reasons for failure is the water movement taking the grout away. Basically, you’re filling a hole and as you’re filling it, the water is eroding it away.”
He said there are a lot of unknowns and it’s “all speculation at this point. These are things the study should shed some light on.”
Requested stabilization options for the plan include pressure grouting, hydro-filling and shaft remediation, and the “analysis must estimate the volume of material required, the constructability and the anticipated long-term effectiveness of the stabilization.”
Plasterbed Road is not alone for having sinkhole issues. Last year, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost opened a lawsuit against the United States Gypsum Company for nearly $17 million over the company’s failure to maintain underground mines that caused dangerous sinkholes near Ohio 2 in Ottawa County.
The engineer’s office will receive a final recommendation, a report on the existing conditions, a feasibility report on the various solutions, including schematic drawings with comparative costs, and a risk matrix.
Miller called the number of people affected by the sinkhole, “a very complicated question, which will be part of the analysis.”
No date for beginning construction has been proposed.
rlapointe@gannett.com
419-332-2674
This article originally appeared on Port Clinton News Herald: Sinkhole-plagued Plasterbed Road to be studied
Reporting by Roger LaPointe, Port Clinton News Herald / Port Clinton News Herald
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