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Determination pays off

Trustee works with CSX for 4 years to get drainage issue resolved

JANELLE PATTERSON The Marietta Times Muskingum Township Trustee Gary Doan, left, shows former trustee John Karas and a retaining wall built out of concrete blocks by CSX this month to prevent further slippage. Doan worked on the project for four years

MUSKINGUM TWP.–A tale of dedication, perseverance and teamwork brought about a little victory for Muskingum Township this year along the CSX railroad which follows the west side bank of the Muskingum River and Township Road 32.

“This started back in the summer of 2012 when CSX approached us about closing the road down so they could repair the line and replace all of the crossings,” said Gary Doan, Muskingum Township trustee. “They told me they’d take care of anything the railway needed along this stretch but the slippage wasn’t taken care of.”

Much of the line runs parallel with the road and is raised between four and 12 feet from the road. But the bank of the line is mostly filled with large gravel rocks. The steep incline of the bank plus the pressure of the elements made for consistent standing water about two miles north of the Edgewater Cafe on Muskingum River Road.

“We have a ditch, which helps to keep water off of the road, but the gravel came down on the road and slipped and filled that part in because of the pressure of the trains on the tracks and the rains,” said John Karas, former trustee and a resident of Devola. “We always had little landslides that came out on the road but this one got so bad that our guys couldn’t manage it anymore.”

Doan and Karas described the task like that of building a sand castle when the tide keeps rolling in.

“You’d go to scoop gravel out of the ditch and more would come down on top of you,” said Doan. “It would have cost more than $10,000 for the township to put in a retaining wall with I-beams and wooden blocks but once I got in touch with the right person at CSX they did it on their dime and we simply helped supply the manpower to get it done.”

Karas wouldn’t let Doan be so modest about his efforts though.

“He kept at it when we all had given up,” said Karas. “It’s through his tireless phone calls and going through the rigmarole that made this finally happen years later.”

Doan said he spent month after month documenting phone calls with CSX employees across multiple states trying to get in touch with the person in charge of repairs for the township’s stretch of the line.

“I kept record of every call I made and every person I talked with until finally I was put in touch with a man in Columbus who came down in August and by the end of September he said he’d be up here,” said Doan. “On Sept. 30 I got a phone call that they would be up here Oct. 4. They moved stuff in that day and the next day they started and got it done in all about six hours.”

The 120-foot stretch of 30 reinforced cement blocks border the road built in 1859.

“We told him can’t do any maintenance on the road as far as chip and seal because of the water, it adds extra pressure on the road and splits cracks even farther apart,” said Doan. “So when a ditch is blocked and a couple thousand pound vehicle hits that puddle it makes our roads worse. We will now be able to do protective measures on this road with that ditch cleared and no more gravel blocking the run off.”

Other projects Doan now has his sights set on include working on a grant with the Muskingum River Watershed for aid in erosion along the west bank just south of the Edgewater Cafe.

“I’ve been working with Buckeye Hills and the watershed on an $185,000 grant to stop this road from sinking here at the bend of the river,” said Doan. “What that would pay for is the injection of a material that would essentially raise the road up and stop the erosion along the road. Otherwise it would cost over $2 million to reroute the road and move the residents.”

Karas said both instances show how Doan uses available resources to take care of his residents.

“Trustees in all townships do more with their small budgets than any other government agency,” he said.

At a glance

¯ Muskingum Township Trustee Gary Doan worked for four years to address slippage along the CSX railway alongside Muskingum River Road.

¯ The company fixed the problem with 30 blocks of reinforced cement at the beginning of October.

¯ Doan is next working on a $185,000 grant from the Muskingum River Watershed for erosion issues on Township Road 32.

Source: Gary Doan.

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