A portion of Romaine Creek Road, from East Romaine Creek Road to Corn Lane, in the Jefferson County portion of Fenton is partially closed for emergency repairs.
Motorists heading east on Romaine Creek Road will be able to travel normally. However, the westbound lane is closed to traffic due to a slide caused by recent heavy rainfall, said Jason Jonas, Jefferson County Department of Public Works Director.
Separate, nearby portions of Romaine Creek Road also experienced slides, with the most recent one fixed by Public Work crews in December. The slides were caused by subsurface water pooling underneath the roadway, which, when compounded by heavy rains, can cause the road to crack or buckle.
Public Works completed a similar repair to the road in 2022.
“(The closure) is due to another road sliding failure resulting from the heavy rainfall last week and weekend,” Jonas said on Tuesday, April 8. “This is in a different area of the road alignment than the previous two road slide failures. Both of those sections were repaired over recent years and show no signs of stress. We will begin engineering a solution to this latest slide but understand the partial road closure will remain for some time to come.”
Westbound motorists will take a detour around the road closure by taking East Romaine Creek Road to West Rock Creek Road and back onto Romaine Creek Road.
Jonas said there are detour signs posted at the East Romaine Creek and Romaine Creek intersection.
About 370 motorists travel Romaine Creek Road every day, a release from the Public Works Department states. The cost to repair the road could not be provided.