Collapsing Road, Century-Old Railroad Overpass Are Focus of Ross County Engineer [Video]

Ross County — The county engineer is responding quickly to a small area of collapsing hillside threatening to block a dead-end road, and is also ready to start a 1 1/2-year project to replace a century-old overpass of a railroad.

County Engineer Charlie Ortman chatted with the Ross County Commissioners in their weather-delayed meeting on Wednesday.

Just southwest of Chillicothe, Alum Cliffs Road is down to one lane little more than a mile from Polk Hollow Road, less than halfway to its end. Half of the pavement has collapsed where the road descends a hillside. (See my Google Maps illustrations of it in the below video.)

Ortman said it’s not as bad as infamous Cooks Hill Road where the entire road has sagged and is undrivable, but the consensus was that there are 200 to 300 residents past that point who would be marooned if Alum Cliffs Road …