SPANISHBURG, WV (WOAY) – Route 19 in Spanishburg is closed to traffic after the road collapsed in the middle of the night.
Utility and road crews were on the scene Thursday morning assessing the damage. District 10 Manager with the Department of Transportation Joe Pack says the collapse was caused by heavy erosion as a result of this week’s storms.
“Due to the high waters of the recent storms, the Bluestone River, in our assessment, undermined the embankment of the roadway, which caused the roadway to collapse,” Pack said.
The road collapsed late Wednesday evening. Locals were notified quickly and instructed to avoid Route 19. Spanishburg Elementary across the river was closed for the day, as school buses couldn’t safely make it through.
“It was not safe to get school buses in and out toward Spanishburg School,” said Mercer County Schools Data Information Specialist Amy Harrison. “Luckily for students of Pikeview Middle and Pikeview High, bus operators were able to take alternate routes.”
The Department of Transportation isn’t confident that the road can hold up to any traffic at this point. All traffic will need to find alternate routes. They say it’s even a bad idea just to open one lane due to more erosion issues.
“We’re not sure if it’s a good idea at this point to put any traffic on the roadway until we can do some additional shoring up of the road,” Pack added. “We are asking everyone to be patient, we are moving as quickly as we can to begin repairs. It does take some time to do this level of repair, and we’ll have the road open as soon as we can.”
The Department of Transportation estimates the road will be fully repaired within two weeks.
