Emergency-access route damaged; gas line exposed in Poland

By Jessica Hardin

jhardin@vindy.com

POLAND

What was once a utility road running perpendicular to Drake Run in the Poland Municipal Forest is now a ditch full of rubble and an unearthed sewer pipe.

In the last year, the volume of water flowing from Boardman into Drake Run has increased dramatically and eroded the road at this juncture, exposing a sewer pipe and a gas line.

“This is the result of Boardman building, and [Interstate] 680 was not a help, either,“ said Sam Moffie, a village councilman and forest board member. “Anyone who’s been in this forest for years is shocked you can see this.”

Moffie stood in the ditch as he explained that cars should be able to drive through the area. Clearly, a vehicle would be hard-pressed to cross the waterway.

“The No. 1 danger is that this is supposed to be an emergency-access road,” Moffie said.

A less-visible danger is posed by the fact that a gas line runs under the remnants of the road. The village notified Dominion Energy of the situation this spring.

The gas line was installed decades ago, explained forest board member Mark Thompson, “when Drake Run was a little stream.”

Neil Durbin, Dominion Energy spokesman, said the pipe is currently in a safe condition. Dominion has engaged a consultant to assess the situation and develop a solution.

But it likely won’t be a quick fix. Any repairs would be vulnerable to the increased force of the waterway.

Dominion installed safety fences to keep park visitors away, Durbin said in the statement, but the barriers have been removed, which comes as no surprise. Visitors also removed safety fencing on the Mauthe Bridge when the village closed it last summer.