The W Road up Walden's Ridge has reopened - several days ahead of schedule.
Todd Leamon, public works administrator, said the barriers were removed late Thursday morning.
The historic road, with a famed zigzag section at the top, has been closed since early April. The initial closure was to correct an area near the top that was sinking. Later, there was a mudslide on a lower section that required more work.
On April 9, Hamilton County closed the road after part of the roadway surface began to exhibit severe cracking. Work to stabilize the roadbed and rebuild a section of an existing retaining wall in the first area included the installation of 178 soil nails and micropiles. These piles are embedded below the roadway and into the existing bedrock at depths ranging from 20 to 40 feet below the surface providing shear strength.
The repair also incorporates approximately 4,860 square feet of steel mesh reinforcement along the escarpment and below the rebuilt retaining wall section. The roadbed has been rebuilt utilizing compacted crushed stone wrapped in geotextile reinforced fabric material.
As repairs continued in early May, a second area sustained a “mudslide” failure. This failure is attributed to the torrential rainfall sustained over the weekend of May 4-5. The second repair area was approximately 1,000 feet south of the first repair area and was unrelated to those efforts. The second area did not incur roadbed failure and only required stabilization of the bluff and escarpment adjacent to the roadway. This area was stabilized using the same techniques utilized in the first repair area.
Improvements to the W Road completed by the county highway department include placement of 560 tons of asphalt paving, lane striping, 1,000 feet of guardrail adjustment, 400 feet of guardrail replacement, additional truck traffic advisory signs, cleaning of roadside drainage ditches and drain pipes, and required tree removal.
The approved repair budget of $1,276,000 was closely managed by Hamilton County and the contractor, officials said. The project was completed $8,000 under budget, for a final contract cost of $1,267,547.