LAKETON TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- A washed out road in Muskegon County is causing some driving pains. A section of Green Creek Road in Laketon Township was destroyed after a storm in August, and officials say repairs are on the way.
An engineer with the Muskegon County Road Commission says a replacement culvert has been ordered and work should begin in the first week of November. The work is only expected to take a couple days.
“Really the culvert that was there didn’t fail structurally it was undermined by the creek and sunk into the soil. As a result it sunk and that caused the water to back up and washed out the sides of the road next to the culvert," said Chief Engineer Paul Bouman.
Some people living near the damaged road are frustrated with the detour they have to take and wonder why it's taken so long to fix.
"The mailman, the garbage man, oh gosh, there are a few people who keep asking 'When are they going to fix your road?'" said Green Brook Road resident Brenda Martin. "Some of my customers that come and get a haircut they take the wrong road to get here and then realize 'Oh, I can’t get there.'"
And there are some who are actually happy the road is washed out because it means less traffic.
“Don’t fix it, leave it. I’m good with that; wait till next year," said Wendel Conarty. "A lot of people may not like it but I love it. Leave it closed I’m good with that."
The road failure came from heavy rains Aug. 27. Engineers say they are ready to fix the road and have already ordered a specially designed culvert.
“We really want to make sure that when we put it in it’s done correctly, we’re considering the needs of the stream and the needs of the road and the safety aspect,” says Bouman.
