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Erosion on hill along side of road causes problem. Project will begin Monday, take six months
By Katie Byard
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Saturday, Apr 26, 2008
A slipping slope along busy North Portage Path in West Akron is about to cause big headaches for motorists.
Beginning Monday, the unstable soil will force the closing for six months of a 2,000-foot stretch of the road, between Mark and Barcelona drives.
''The hill is sloughing off,'' said Paul Barnett, the city's public works bureau manager.
The entrance to Sand Run Park at North Portage Path and Sand Run Parkway will remain open.
On a typical day, about 11,600 motorists use the stretch of road, according to a city study.
The fix involves shoring up the blue clay in the hill just west of the stretch of Portage Path.
Erosion has exposed the clay, which ''is causing the slope to slip on the west side. . . . We're losing material,'' said Akron's construction division manager, Jim Weber.
Workers will use a technique called ''soil nailing,'' in which long pieces of steel are shot into the ground with a cannon-like device, he said.
''It will stiffen up the slope and make it much more stable,'' Weber said.
The work carries an $865,000 price tag, with the state picking up $475,000 of the tab.
The slippery situation is similar to that which forced the closing of Sand Run Road a few years ago, Weber said.
But conditions along Sand Run Road were much worse, he said, requiring the city to excavate and rebuild slopes.
Good news for pedestrians: The North Portage Path project includes replacing a narrow, asphalt sidewalk with a 6-foot-wide concrete walk.
Elsewhere in West Akron, motorists will get a break.
In mid-May, the city will reopen North Hawkins Avenue between Shatto Avenue and the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway tracks.
That portion of Hawkins was closed to allow workers to add a fiberglass liner to a decades-old brick sewer pipe underneath North Hawkins.
Another project — road improvements on North Hawkins between Garman and Thurmont roads — has been pushed back until next year.
''We're trying to give the people in West Akron a break,'' Weber said.
Meanwhile, in the Wallhaven area of West Akron, all lanes of West Market Street will be reopened by the first week of June.
Lanes have been closed during a $3.9 million reconstruction project that began last spring.
Contractors are working on the stretch from PershingAvenue to the railroadcrossing. Traffic is reduced to one lane each way both day and night.
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.
A slipping slope along busy North Portage Path in West Akron is about to cause big headaches for motorists.
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