If you ever drive through Rockingham County and your navigation system takes you down Webb Loop Road just know two things, you may see James Tilley cruising around in his golf cart and you may have to turn around.
Last Summer flood waters washed away the culvert forcing homeowners like Tilley to drive about five to seven miles out of their way, “We have been waiting since July to find out what is next, and we don’t know,” said Tilley.
The culvert was put in way in the 1990’s after the original wooden bridge failed during a storm. The county placed three metal tubes in the creek and paved over the area, “We need a bridge,” said Tilley.
The question facing the county was should they install a bridge, a new culvert or just turn Webb Loop Road into a dead end, “We did discuss that briefly, but we have had a crossing there for a long time,” said Rockingham County Division Maintenance Engineer Brad Wall.
The county ultimately settled on a new culvert but instead of three smaller tubes it will install one large aluminum tube, “The water will go through one more efficiently than three,” said Wall.
The cost of a new culvert is around $450,000 compared to more than $1-million to install a bridge. The county had hoped to have the project started by now but heavy rains this fall have stalled the process, “I have never seen this much rain,” said Wall.
Engineers will have to dam the water on both sides and then divert it before installing the aluminum tube in the creek bed. Right now, the creek is moving too fast to make that possible, so engineers are having to wait until the rains subside for a couple weeks and the water slows.
Once started the culvert should take about four months to complete which means at the earliest it wont be completed until July.