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[SidecarFlip]

On Bragg between Deerfield Road and McCarty there is an ongoing 'bottomless mud pit' in the center of the road.  When it's dry, it's fine, but get a little rain and it becomes a bottomless quagmire...  Right now, it's impassable unless you have a lifted 4x4 and a deathwish.....

[Maverick]

Did they by chance tile down the center of that road 20 or 30 years ago ? It was common practice back then.
If so theres a chance that the tile is plugged or broken and the trapped water is trying to get out where the tile is bad. It happened on Darling rd a few years ago. Any time it rained there was a hard to explain otherwise, mud pit until the county fixed the tile.

[BigRedDog]

On Bragg between Deerfield Road and McCarty there is an ongoing 'bottomless mud pit' in the center of the road.  When it's dry, it's fine, but get a little rain and it becomes a bottomless quagmire...  Right now, it's impassable unless you have a lifted 4x4 and a deathwish.....

A sinkhole can open just about anywhere but I'd look into Mav's suggestion with the tiles.  I've never personally seen the road commission do this but I have heard of it before. 

OR maybe it's linked to the 'oil well' in your front yard.  How close is the sinkhole to their drive going back to the site?

[SidecarFlip]

A sinkhole can open just about anywhere but I'd look into Mav's suggestion with the tiles.  I've never personally seen the road commission do this but I have heard of it before. 

OR maybe it's linked to the 'oil well' in your front yard.  How close is the sinkhole to their drive going back to the site?

Actually, it's close, about 150 feet from the driveway access to the well.

Road closed signs up (last night), a gooey mess.

[SidecarFlip]

Did they by chance tile down the center of that road 20 or 30 years ago ? It was common practice back then.
If so theres a chance that the tile is plugged or broken and the trapped water is trying to get out where the tile is bad. It happened on Darling rd a few years ago. Any time it rained there was a hard to explain otherwise, mud pit until the county fixed the tile.

Never been an issue in the 30+ years we have lived here.  I cannot remember that there was ever an issue there, always been fairly dry.  Just this year it's turned into a quagmire and there could possibly be a broken tile under the road.  Different property owners on either side (and no ditches either).

[BigRedDog]

Actually, it's close, about 150 feet from the driveway access to the well.

Road closed signs up (last night), a gooey mess.

I didn't catch the dispatch this morning (very early) but I did hear the Summerfield chief when they cleared the scene say that they had managed to get the vehicle 'out'...

maybe it was there?

Never been an issue in the 30+ years we have lived here.  I cannot remember that there was ever an issue there, always been fairly dry.  Just this year it's turned into a quagmire and there could possibly be a broken tile under the road.  Different property owners on either side (and no ditches either).

I would think that would be exactly the scenario that they would install the tile and run it lengthwise down the road.  It has to drain out somewhere on one end or the other or maybe even both.  Looking at the aerial map I can see an open drain crossing the road close to either end.  Go check and see if you can see anything of the tile and maybe if something is plugging it. 

Good that there are at least barricades up.  That means the MCRC has something in their system.  That means you may see some actual repair work somewhere between two days and two years!

[The Fuzz]

I seem to remember a lot of sink holes in the area where I grew up......most blamed them on old mining operations.

[Maverick]

The one on Darling rd had clear water bubbling up through the mud. Thats how I figured out that it was a plugged drain tile that ran down the center of the road. I know Raisinville and London Township did many miles of gravel roads with a drain tile down the center. It actually works quite well to help keep the roads better drained.

[SidecarFlip]

They came out while CL and I were shopping at Wal Mart and dumped several loads of gravel in the quagmire.  I walked the big black dog down there this evening and it's pretty good but it's still watery underneath.  Barb Branscom came by while I was walking the pup and we were discussing the quagmire...  She said she never seen it do that and she's lived on the corner of Bragg and McCarty since 1967.  She don''t ever remember a tile down the middle of the road, I asked her.

If there were actually ditches on at least one side for the water to drain off, it would help.  The road bed is actually lower than the sides.  There is a drain cutting across the road (east to west) down closer to Deerfield Road but it's about another 1/2 mile farther down.  The quagmire was directly across from the dry well in the field that is sitting there and it's a mess too.

Not on the subject but CL submitted a water sample to the DEQ for analysis so we have a benchmark just in case they (whoever) decide to open that well up again.  There is talk about horizontal drilling from that well to another well and that has to be one of the three that are on Cake Road and like I said in another post, that puts them directly under our property.  CL wants a benchmark analysis so if our water goes to hell, we have some ground (legally) to stand on.

Ever since the one  (well) across the road was shut in, the water has been improving.  When they drilled it (a few years back), our water was running red and it never did that.  It's been getting clearer right along.  Very little iron now,  I went from changing my industrial filter cartridge from every week to a month now.  I run a Cuno industrial cartridge filter with synthetic media inside and interestingly, once Holnam quit quarrying off 23, we lost the sulfur too.

[SidecarFlip]

I didn't catch the dispatch this morning (very early) but I did hear the Summerfield chief when they cleared the scene say that they had managed to get the vehicle 'out'...

maybe it was there?

I would think that would be exactly the scenario that they would install the tile and run it lengthwise down the road.  It has to drain out somewhere on one end or the other or maybe even both.  Looking at the aerial map I can see an open drain crossing the road close to either end.  Go check and see if you can see anything of the tile and maybe if something is plugging it. 

Good that there are at least barricades up.  That means the MCRC has something in their system.  That means you may see some actual repair work somewhere between two days and two years!

Could have been there.  Not sure.  There were a lot of truck tire tracks when I walked the dog down there this evening.  People around here tend to disregard 'Road Closed' signs and last night, if a car went down Bragg, they would have gotten stuck for sure.  Looked to me to be about 2 feet deep goo.

Of course the big black dog had to walk in the puddles on the side and get muddy.  Being mostly lab he likes water and mud puddles.

I cannot count the times that cars have failed to stop at Bragg and McCarty and went across the road and into the drain which intersects the road right at the intersection.  The Road Commish has replaced not only the stop sign but the big  sign over the drain with arrows pointing both ways.  Lots of old car parts in that ditch....  Going at the speed of light and then not being able to stop when the road runs out.