Dust Problem Along U.S. 40 Still Unsettled in Morristown
Emma Delk Trending
A meeting organized by Morristown area residents to address dust being stirred up by heavy traffic along a stretch of U.S. 40 did not result in a solution being enacted because Belmont County Engineer Terry Lively was not invited to the meeting.
The problem of dust being carried onto six residences along National Road has been ongoing for the past 12 years. Monday's meeting was the first step toward determining a solution.
Morristown residents, Ohio Department of Transportation officials, Union Township officials, Belmont County leaders and employees of the industrial plants that frequently use the road -- including CCU Coal and Construction, Egypt Valley Stone and Shelly and Sands -- were present at the meeting held at the Union Township building.
"We're just five little houses and five little families that feel like we're in an industrial park," Morristown resident Robbie Barr said.
Before a solution could be determined at the meeting, ODOT District 11 Highway Management Administrator Ty Justice raised the issue of Belmont County having authority over the road, which meant that Lively would need to weigh in on any decisions.
"The only thing we can do as far as this goes is give a permit to run a sweeper along the road," Justice said.
Resident Taylore Frasnelly, who organized the meeting, said she had not been informed to contact the engineer until she spoke with Belmont County Commissioner Josh Meyer just a couple hours before Monday's meeting.
While county officials will ultimately decide the solution to the problem, attendees at Monday's meeting still worked together to determine possible fixes. Suggestions ranged from watering the stretch of road more frequently and installing a wash bay for trucks to use to paving the road.
Union Township Trustee Justin Demarchi said cost would be a barrier to paving, estimating that paving the half-mile stretch of road would coast "at least half a million dollars."
ODOT Belmont County Manager Dave Schafer suggested performing a chipseal, a type of pavement surface treatment that combines layers of asphalt with layers of aggregate, on the road. Though the cost for this treatment was more viable at about "$40,000-$50,000," according to Demarchi, he warned that the chipseal would not last very long with 80,000-pound trucks driving along it.
With no other solution looking as promising as the chipseal idea, meeting attendees decided to reconvene later in July at the ODOT Belmont County Garage with Lively present to help them figure out how to execute the chipseal solution.
After the meeting, Frasnelly noted that residents had done much of the work to contact ODOT, county and township officials to find a solution to the problem.
"We don't live on a dirt road. We pay property taxes, and we keep our houses nice," Frasnelly said. "We want our property value to remain the same, but it's not going to with all the dust. We bought our houses with the expectation that the area would be quiet and clean."