The section of Seckman Road between the West Outer Road and the western entrance to Mastodon State Park in Imperial is expected to be closed from May 28 to August 19 for construction, Jefferson County Public Works Director Jason Jonas said.
He said the decision to close the road was made because of traffic safety and flooding concerns.
PCX Construction began working in September to raise and widen the heavily traveled 1-mile stretch of Seckman Road.
Currently, one lane of the two-lane road is closed to traffic, and a temporary traffic signal allows traffic to pass through the construction zone in one direction, and then the other, at timed intervals.
Jonas said many motorists in the construction zone are not obeying the traffic signals.
“It’s generally become an unsafe situation with people continually running the red light,” he said.
In addition, there is concern that the fill, or dirt, PCX Construction has placed along Seckman Road to elevate the road may not be stable as per the project’s plans, the Public Works Department said in a written statement.
The Public Works Department is working with professional geotechnical engineers to test the fill and determine if it’s still acceptable for the road.
According to the statement, the loading and density tests will be performed once the fill has dried out.
“Right now, we’re trying to assess all the damage to the fill with all the flood and the waters that keep backing up against it,” Jonas said. “It’s not looking good. That’s not the answer that these people want, but that’s the answer that likely has to be given to them.”
Jonas said the road will remain open until after Memorial Day weekend to avoid the Fox C-6 School District having to reroute school buses.
“What’s going to happen is we’re going to limp along, with these storms not helping the matter, with it being open until Fox is out of school on the 24th, and then let the Memorial Day weekend play out as well,” he said.
Jonas said Public Works recently was forced to close the road twice in three days due to heavy rainfall.
He said two vehicles were trapped on the road because of the floodwaters.
Jonas said Seckman Road lies in a floodplain and usually floods once every couple of years due to its proximity to Rock Creek.
The project will raise the road by 5 feet, limiting the risk of frequent flooding, Jonas said.
Mike VanMeter, assistant director of transportation for the Fox School District, said buses were rerouted in advance of the heavy rainfall to avoid delays.
He said three Seckman High School buses and one Hodge Elementary School bus travel east on Seckman Road toward the West Outer Road, all in the afternoon.
“Normally, there would be several more buses using Seckman Road eastbound, but due to the construction, we proactively redrew the routes that would have been impacted by the delays before the school year started,” VanMeter said.
Director of transportation Gary Cross said the road closure will have little if any effect on the district’s summer school routes.
In addition to traffic safety, flooding and fill concerns, Jonas said the Public Works Department decided to close the road due to the construction company’s schedule. PCX Construction had used 64 of its 160 allotted working days as of May 13.
“With a full road closure, the contractor will have full access to the jobsite and should finish the project ahead of schedule,” according to the written statement. “The contractor submitted an accelerated schedule that would have Seckman Road back open to two-way traffic by Aug. 19.”
Initially, the project was expected to be completed in early fall.
Jonas said he expects work to be completed by the end of the Fox district’s summer break.
The district’s first day of school is Aug. 20.
Jonas said that once completed, the roadwork will be a benefit to the community because the road will be less flood-prone, have wider shoulders, and will include safety features like guardrails and rumble strips.
“(Motorists) are complaining that the floodwaters are because of this project, and what they really want to say is, ‘Build this thing without any inconveniences to us.’ I can’t do that,” Jonas said. “I know this (road closure) is more inconvenient, but I have to keep you safe.”