Lower Bottom Road reopens to traffic after 10 months

Lower Bottom Road in Cole County reopened to traffic Tuesday after being closed for 10 months.

The road near St. Thomas closed in July 2015 after crumbling from heavy rains.

Crews officially started repairs on Lower Bottom Road early last month and finished this week, according to Cole County Public Works Director Larry Benz.

The projected ended up costing taxpayers significantly less than what officials initially estimated.

Last July, public works told ABC 17 News fixing the road could cost up to $750,000. But that ended up not being the case.

“The bid came in considerably cheaper than what we first initially had it estimated at,” Benz said. “The bids for it came in at $282,000 so it’s quite a bit less than that.”

Most of that money will not come from taxpayers. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, will reimburse the county for about 75 percent of the project, according to Benz.

The rest of the funds have been paid for by the county’s road and bridge tax.

Benz said the road took nearly 10 months to repair because public works was waiting for the asphalt plant to reopen this spring.

“Once we did the repairs to the subgrade underneath of it, we wanted to be able to cover it and seal it off before any more moisture got underneath the roadway.”

About 125 cars travel Lower Bottom Road a day so it is not considered a high-traffic road, according to Benz. Nearby residents were still able to get to their homes by using an alternate route.