Contractor repairing street beside creek in Marianna

A state contractor has started repairs on a section of Main Street in Marianna beside Ten Mile Creek, roughly a year after transportation officials attempted to stabilize the embankment in the same place.
State Department of Transportation spokeswoman Valerie Petersen said Allison Park Contractors started working late last month on slide repairs to a section of Main Street in the small, former coal-mining borough.
Petersen said the contractor will excavate failed embankment material and replace it with rock, as well as perform drainage upgrades and repairs to the surface of the street.
PennDOT workers performed slide repairs in October and November last year, but much of the stone workers placed along the embankment later washed into the creek just below the dam, where water undercuts the base of the street.
“It didn’t hold,” Petersen said. “With the amount of flooding we’ve had in these areas, it just wasn’t adequate.”
Borough Council President Wes Silva said a cavern he described as being large enough to fit several mini-vans had opened up in the embankment supporting the road before workers filled it in last year.
“Their purpose was to come out and reinforce the road, which they did,” Silva said.
He said the most recent damage occurred in the spring because of an “unusual high-water event,” and the agency had been quick to respond.
Petersen said plans for the current project include using larger stones as backfill on the embankment.
“I really feel confident that they’re going to get it right this time,” said state Rep. Bud Cook, R-Daisytown, whose district includes the borough.
“There’s two ways to do a job,” said Cook of the work last year. “You do it right, or you do it right now.”
PennDOT figures put the average daily traffic on the rural state road at 450 vehicles. Work is expected to wrap up around Dec. 15. In the meantime, part of the street is down to a single lane of traffic controlled by a temporary signal.
Separately, long-term plans to remove the roughly 110-year-old, borough-owned dam said to contribute to the wear and tear on the base of Main Street are taking shape.
Borough council voted 3-1 in June to allow a national charitable organization, American Rivers, to remove the dam, described as a nuisance and safety hazard that no longer serves its purpose.
“I would love to get the permitting for this dam in 2018 and then construction all finished up in 2019,” said Lisa Hollinsworth-Segedy, director of river restoration at American Rivers’ Pittsburgh district office.
Council had voted in April to remove the dam, which once provided a water supply for the borough but no longer does so, but agreed to reconsider while Councilman Jeremy Berardinelli searched for available grants to repair the dam.
Council gave Berardinelli a two-week deadline. Silva said Berardinelli never presented his findings to council.
A town hall meeting late in May drew almost 80 people, with many – including Cook, who hosted the meeting – opposed to removing the dam.
“We’re way too eager to tear out our historic landmarks,” Cook said. “To me, I see that as the heart of the community.”
Silva disagreed. He said the dam was initially built to supply water for nearby mining operations.
“There was a lot of debate over it being historic, but it was more industry than historic,” he said.