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Sylvania Gap Road unlikely to re-open in 2009

By Mark Harrison
The Times-Journal

Published June 23, 2009

There’s good news and bad news about Sylvania Gap Road. The bad news is that it isn’t likely to re-open in 2009. The good news is that the DeKalb County Commission did take steps Tuesday toward reopening the road to traffic, eventually.

The commission voted to approve a series of engineering tests on and around a 360-foot stretch of the road, closed since May 4 due to slides caused, in part, by heavy rainfall.

According to DeKalb County Administrator Matt Sharp, the tests are a necessary preliminary measure so the county can recover a portion of the repair cost from federal funds.

Sharp said DeKalb County qualifies for federal disaster funds – approved earlier this year for parts of Alabama affected by flooding – toward repair of Sylvania Gap Road. He said the Federal Emergency Management Agency would reimburse about 70 to 75 percent of the county’s total cost for the project, provided certain conditions are met, including completion of the preliminary engineering tests.

“One reason the repair process has been so slow is that we are having to follow FEMA guidelines,” Sharp said. “In order for us to get FEMA money, we have to follow FEMA’s process, and these tests are a part of that process.”

Gallet & Associates, an engineering firm based in Birmingham that offers geotechnical and materials testing, will perform the tests at an initial cost of $6,500. After those tests – a process expected to take about 12 days – have been completed, a report will be presented to the commission outlining general geologic conditions, subsurface conditions, possible causes of sliding and general considerations for repair and stabilization options.

“This is still a very preliminary state of the repair process,” Sharp said. “I don’t expect it to re-open during the current calendar year.”

The commission also:

• approved the closure of several roads in the Portersville community, primarily unused alleys behind Portersville Church no longer being used.

• noted that the Alabama Historical Commission has placed Little River Baptist Church Cemetery in Mentone on the Alabama Cemetery Historical Register. District I Commissioner Ricky Harcrow said the cemetery is only one of two in DeKalb County on the register and one of only 303 statewide.

The commission meets July 14 at 10 a.m. at the Activities Building in Fort Payne.

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