In his recent quarterly report to Washington County supervisors, County Engineer Jacob Thorius noted the toll weather took on the county roads when heavy rain brought flooding in April and May and cleanup efforts went through June.  

In practical terms, it meant drilling holes and adding clean rock to provide a way for water to get out of the road bed.  

It also meant coring out sections of road, removing the saturated material and hauling in new rock to create base, he said.

As a result of following from the English River, the east fork of Crooked Creek and the Skunk River, roads in the areas were closed from as little as one day to as much as two weeks.  

The water problems also delayed the usual dust control work on the roads from late May to June because of the soft road conditions.

The 55,166 tons of rock needed to repair and maintain the roads were hauled by both county employees and a contracted local hauler.

“We hauled rock as fast as we could and road conditions would allow.  We did not want to tear up roads to get rock down,” he said.  

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