A portion of Romaine Creek Road, from East Romaine Creek Road to Corn Lane, in the Jefferson County portion of Fenton will be closed Dec. 2 through Dec. 20 for emergency repairs.
Jefferson County Public Works Director Jason Jonas said the closure was necessary due to “slope failure” along Romaine Creek Road.
Currently, the road is open to one-way traffic, with the damaged lane blocked off to traffic. Motorists must yield to oncoming traffic when they reach the closed lane, Jonas said.
When the road closes on Monday, Dec. 2, motorists will need to take East Romaine Creek Road to West Rock Creek Road or Konert Road to Old Hwy. 21 to access either side of Romaine Creek Road.
Jonas said Public Works crews fixed a similar slide to the west of the current slope failure in 2022.
“In July, when we had really heavy rains, (the slide) was just a crack in the road and we were able to seal it – keep it watertight,” Jonas said. “But this latest heavy rain, about 6-8 inches a couple of weeks ago, caused a 4-foot drop in the pavement. There must be some sort of subsurface water, maybe subsurface drainage, that has this potential to it.
“Our repair that we did back in 2022 held up just fine; that area of the road is stable. Whatever was happening subsurface was bigger than we had originally anticipated a few years ago.”
Jonas said in-house construction crews will work to improve the subsurface drainage with drainage pipe tiles, which he said will gather the water pooling several feet underneath the pavement and flush it out. He estimated the repairs will cost approximately $100,000.
Jonas said about 370 vehicles use Romaine Creek Road per day.
“I’m assuming the detour is very low impact (on motorists and nearby residents),” he said.