After months of being closed due to a massive slope failure, the section of Essa Township Line 5, just south of County Road 90, reopened Monday afternoon.
Closed since an early April rainstorm, the roadway has been rebuilt from the ground up, using primarily township-owned or -controlled resources — relying on third-party contractors to provide just a tiny fraction of the final cost, mostly for paving and concrete curbs.
“We don’t have the capacity for paving and curbs, so that had to be provided by a third party,” said Michael Mikeal, the townhip's chief administrative officer. “Everything else has been done in-house.”
The slope repair will cost the municipality between $330,000 and $450,000.
If the municipality had opted to use third-party contractors, it would have cost an additional $300,000, township officials have said.
Mikael said the slope failure was the largest the township has ever experienced.
The initial failure was about 50 metres in length. It was compounded by another landslide that extended the damage an additional 20 metres.
As a result of the slope failure, a 90-metre culvert that conveyed the small creek under the road was also damaged.
While it was initially thought that the culvert could be reused, it had to be replaced when officials discovered it sustained heavier-than-expected damage.
Mikael said a 100-metre, corrugated steel pipe culvert replaced the damaged culvert and the township brought in more than 60,000 cubic metres of engineered fill to stabilize the embankment.
Work crews were on site Monday morning putting the finishing touches on the road prior to opening.
