County roads hurt by rains

Published 2:39 pm Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Heavy rains during the Christmas holiday left a number of roadways in Butler County in need of repair.

According to Butler County Engineer Dennis McCall, there are approximately 20 road damage sites, most with moderate damage.

McCall estimates that it will cost in the neighborhood of $300,000 to $400,000 to make the repairs.

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Hank Williams Road (County Road 7) and Rolling Hills Road remain closed.

“Both of these sites will be drainage structure replacement projects,” McCall said. “We anticipate delivery of replacement pipes for both of these sites in one week, and we expect both sites to be opened to traffic by the end of next week.”

The City of Greenville was forced to close Glendale Avenue and Sherling Lake Road due to damage caused by the heavy rain.

Milton Luckie, superintendent of the Public Works department for the City of Greenville, said the amount of water overwhelmed the drainage system under both roadways.

“The pipes just weren’t able to keep up with the amount of water,” he said.

The closing of roadways throughout the county forced the Butler County School System to alter some of its bus routes following the Christmas break.

“We had to alter five bus routes because of the storm,” said Slade Piggott, transportation director for the school system. “The change affected approximately 162 children, but we were able to find alternative routes to safely transport all children to and from school.”

Gov. Robert Bentley declared a state of emergency Christmas Day.

As part of the order, state and local officials will assess damages as they consider seeking federal disaster aid.