Washed Out Road in Royston Partially Re-opened This Week

In Royston, a road washed out over the summer by heavy rainfall, is now partially open.

In July, a six inch water pipe under Baker St collapsed, washing out the road entirely.  On Monday, Royston city manager Greg Scott said while work continues to fix the road, part of Baker St is passable .

“We’ve moved out of emergency recovery and we’re able to ensure the public’s safety,” Scott said. “We’ve gotten engineering assistance from Franklin County and we’ve set the base and pipe the way it’s supposed to be and repaired the base of the street and re-opened part of the street to limited access.”

One area of concern initially when the road washed out, was the collapse of a gas main buried under the road.  Scott said that gas main has now been repaired and is safe.

“It’s still a long time before it gets back to normal, but we’re past the point of immediate danger,” Scott said.

Scott said crews have been working all summer to secure the side banks of the trench where the gas and water pipes were located in order to keep the road from collapsing again.

And he credits the cooperative efforts of several city departments and the county with getting the road repaired.

“Thanks to the efforts of the street, gas and water departments, as well as Franklin County, it kept the water main break from becoming a personal tragedy for everybody,” Scott said.

Total cost of the road repair, Scott said, is approximately $50,000.

Scott said how soon the road repairs will be completed depends on the weather, but he expects at least one phase of the work to be completed by the end of October.