$5.4M coming to city for Muskingum Ave., which could be open a year after project begins
ZANESVILLE − A long-closed road causing a sore spot for travelers in Zanesville will be fixed soon thanks to federal funding.
The City of Zanesville has received $5.46 million from the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for stabilization of Muskingum Avenue, also known as Dug Road. The city held a press conference near the road on Tuesday to announce the funding and discuss the project.
The city is providing a 10% match, or $606,862, coming from the state and the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District. Mayor Don Mason said outside of some money for preliminary design work, no project funding is coming from the city. The total project area is approximately 9.6 acres. The consulting civil engineering firm is ADR & Associates of Newark.
Public Service Director Scott Brown said he would expect the project to be under contract by the middle of October. City Engineer Chip Saunders hopes to have the road open to traffic within the first 12 months, with other work continuing. This includes restoration of Putnam Hill Park that overlooks Muskingum Avenue.
Saunders said with the slope cutback, features at the park such as the overlook and parking area will be moved back. However, removed slop materials will be used to fill in a ravine that will increase the usable land at the park. Saunders said what the new land will be used for is to be decided.
Muskingum Avenue was constructed from 1913 to 1914, following the Great Flood of 1913. It was rehabilitated and improved in 1953. Landslips and falling rocks have been an issue going back to 1965. The roadway has closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic since February 2019, after major road slips forced the city to deem the roadway unsafe. Prior to that, the road averaged about 5,600 vehicles a day.
The stabilization and reopening of the road will not only reduce traffic congestion in the area but also decrease response times for first responders. The road is also viewed as important considering the continued full depth replacement of Interstate 70 by the Ohio Department of Transportation causing its own traffic headaches.
Work will include stepping back the cliff that makes up the downtown side of Putnam Hill Park, relocating a sanitary sewer that runs alongside the Muskingum River and then rebuilding the road itself.
Mason made the project a priority when he took office in 2019 and, while there has been delays in getting funding and starting the project, he's grateful for the light now seen at the end of the tunnel, or the corridor from Pine Street to the railroad tracks.
"One of the things that bothered me so much was there were so many projects unattended to. Perhaps the one that bothered me the most is there was no attention or detail given to Dug Road," Mason said of when he was considering his run for mayor. "We expect once this gets completed, it will pickup where the Putnam sewer project left off. It will look like a continuous improvement."
State officials at the press conference included Rep. Adam Holmes, Sen. Al Landis and Sen. Tim Schaffer, who said Mason took him on a tour of the road and impressed upon him the importance of repairs and state assistance.
"What a problem and right in the middle of the city," Schaffer said. "What I saw was a city, pretty much bifurcated, divided. The lack of ability to get east or west, combined with the construction on I-70, what really terrified me was what if we have a fire station over here and a major problem over there and one can't get to the other."
Leonard Hayhurst is a community content coordinator and general news reporter for the Coshocton Tribune with more than 15 years of local journalism experience and multiple awards from the Ohio Associated Press. He can be reached at 740-295-3417 or llhayhur@coshoctontribune.com. Follow him on Twitter at @llhayhurst.
Project details
Muskingum Avenue
∎ 125 feet cutback of 85 feet high bluff∎ Approximately 69,000 cubic yards of hillside excavation∎ 380 feet of riverside landslip repairs with soldier pile retaining walls∎ 1,483 feet of street improvements to include sidewalks, curbs and gutters and a concrete barrier wall∎ Restoration of usable park area removed by bluff cutback, filling in the park ravine∎ More than 1,000 feet of rockfall barrier∎ Approximately 1,200 feet of sanitary force main∎ Approximately 750 feet of new storm sewer drainage conduits∎ Water quality basin∎ New chain link fence along top edge of cutback slope
Putnam Hill Park
∎ Restoration of Y Bridge/city overlook with railing, benches and other amenities∎ 0.3 mile of shared-use or multi-use path∎ Lighting of the path and new overlook area|∎ Restoration of parking spaces and parking access driveway
This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Zanesville receives $5.4M to repair and reopen Muskingum Avenue
