A recent geotechnical investigation reveals two potential failure zones exist along a 3/4-mile stretch of Keetonville Road. Those failures and the cost of reconstructing the roadbed mean the county road, closed since April, will be closed permanently.

“We’ll abandon that portion of Keetonville Road,” County Commissioner Mike Helm said this morning by phone.

Helm closed what is known to many as a main county throughway between highways 20 and 266 in April, after fallen and buckled sections were determined to be a public hazard. The portion in question is located near Boggy Creek, bounded by the Verdigris River on one side and Keetonville Hill on the other.

Undercutting by flood waters last summer degraded the road bed. Heavy spring rainfall finished the job.

“From the report we found what is classified as a ‘low strength zone,’ a potential failure zone,” said engineer Brian Kellogg. “We encountered two of those. One of them at 17 feet and another at 34 feet. The river is undermining the tow of the road. The river is moving. We can’t control it. The Corps of Engineers’ comment was ‘good luck trying to stop the Verdigris River.’”

In April, Helm met with representatives from the Army Corps of Engineers for funding and assistance in dealing with the problem.

“The big challenge is: Can the road be fixed?” Corps of Engineers Project Manager Richard Bilinski said. “If it can be fixed, for how much money? I think the challenge for the county is to try to determine the best approach to get the road open again or, if it’s going to be cost prohibitive, what other alternatives would provide access to that portion of the community.”

“Trying to excavate 34 feet vertically down puts you somewhere close to the tow of the river,” said Kellogg. “Thirty-four feet is a long way.”

Kellogg said “recompacting and refilling” the roadbed to head the river off is “a monumental task that would probably eat up all the funds we have to use in that area.”

Homes on the bluff overhanging the road complicate the matter further.

“I’m really surprised that it hasn’t finished falling into the river,” said Kellogg. “That slip continues up the hill. Up the hill you’re on the same unstable plane. I think in time, there’s a chance that the rest of that hill’s going to keep on falling. To try to bench up higher on the hill does not seem a feasible solution.”

Flooding along that stretch of the Verdigris River during the summer of 2007 created the erosion that undercut the roadbed. Helm believed this would qualify Rogers County District 2 for federal funding assistance through a Corps program. Helm met with Bilinski and Shannon Sheffert an Oklahoma Department of Transportation division engineer who consults with local government.

“We met at the Port of Catoosa about two-to-three weeks ago right when the county was facing the challenges... they had just shut down the road,” said Bilinski. “The situation is pretty serious. We were trying to brainstorm what we could do to assist the county. The Corps of Engineers can go in and do emergency stream bank protection. We go in and help with erosion control.”

Bilinski said there is federal funding for such problems.

“It’s a cost share program with 65-35 percent matching,” said Bilinski. He said federal sources supply 65 percent of funding with the local government, Rogers County, supplying 35 percent.

“The limit per project is $1 million,” said Bilinski. “It’s a unique program we can utilize to support communities. The challenge is the funding. On a nationwide basis, it’s extremely competitive. Funds are limited.”

Bilinski said the funds had been requested, but no money is available in the program at this time.

“We’re on an annual basis in the middle of our fiscal year right now,” said Bilinski. The federal fiscal year starts in October. “This year all of the funds had been allocated. There isn’t funding at this time to support the county. We have a request in and we’re looking forward to try and leverage funding for next fiscal year.”

Helm said he is working with FEMA to find money to assist the county with the relocation project.

“FEMA probably is his only avenue of funding available,” said Sheffert.

The geotechnical investigation was done through Kellogg Engineering, Inc. performed by Belongia Consultants, Inc. of Broken Arrow.

Oklahoma Natural Gas and Verdigris Valley Electric Cooperative shut down lines in the area and relocated gas and power sources. Recently, Rural Water District 5 has been repairing water leaks District Manager Steve Dunavant believes are a result of the collapse of the roadbed.