Blackburn Church Road in eastern Crittenden County has reopened to traffic now that work is complete on removing almost 1,000 tons of sandstone that had blocked the roadway for nearly a month.
Belt Construction Co. of Marion completed operations this week to break up boulders that had sheared off a roadside bluff and came crashing onto the roadway on Dec. 23. Though damage to the roadbed was extensive, road crews were able to use rock as a temporary fix to allow traffic through the area. With warmer temperatures in the spring, asphalt can then be used to patch the damaged area.
Belt’s Construction won the right to remove the rock with a $12,000 estimate, the lowest from any local companies vying for the job. Operators used two trackhoes – one equipped with a jackhammer attachment – to bust the rock and ready it for removal. The county has applied for state aid that would pay 80 percent of the cost of removing the rock.
Magistrate Dan Wood said the sandstone rock removed from the site of the rock slide was used to shore up roadsides along bridges on Blackburn Church and Travis Cemetery roads. He also said some unstable sections of rock from the bluff, which has dumped boulders onto the roadway before, were removed by Belt's.
