HINDMAN, Ky. – Kentucky Army National Guard engineers continued road construction on county roads in Hindman and Hyden on April 1.
Soldiers from Detachment 1, 149th Engineer Vertical Construction Company, 149th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, based out of Olive Hill, repaired culverts, driveways and road shoulders in Knott and Leslie counties. They worked on the project with the counties’ transportation departments.
In Hindman, a team of four Soldiers repaired driveway culverts that had washed away because of flooding. The engineers said the county maintains those driveways to keep water flowing and prevent damage along the streams.
Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Brock, a non-commissioned officer with the 299th Chemical Company in Burlington and the liaison officer between Knott County and the Kentucky National Guard, directed the engineers to where their work was most needed.
“The assessment we got when I arrived down here, according to the road department, was that the road department is responsible for 918 roads in total,” Brock said. “That covers 274.3 miles, and the surveys showed that 60 to 63 percent of the roads have been impacted.”
“Many of those roads were impassable due to waters still covering the roads, trees and debris blocking them, or were completely washed away. Also, there were 10 major bridges that were blocked when we first got down here,” Brock said.
The roads worked on for this project were small, one-lane roads at the bottom of a holler, a low-land valley in a rural area.
“Even though there are two main roads through town, these smaller roads are used by the community to cut through the hills to save time on their commute,” Brock said. “Even though they are small, they are essential roads that need to be repaired.”
The engineers faced several difficulties as they worked. It took about an hour and 20 minutes to get the fill dirt and gravel from the local quarry to the work sites because of the rural area, curvy roads and traffic.
After the dirt and gravel were dumped, it took engineers about 15 to 20 minutes to get the fill material in place. While they waited, they did what they could to improve other parts of the road to prevent more flooding, including moving larger rocks and material already in place to areas where flowing water might erode the most.
Sgt. 1st Class Ron Clere, with the Det. 1, 149th, described the topography of the locations.
“A lot of these backroads are in the hollers, that is where the majority of the people in this county lives,” Clere said. “One lane road and the homes are at the bottom of these steep valleys. The drainage is about eight to ten feet wide, and the driveways of the homes are literal bridges over that small creek. Many of those have washed away completely.”
Clere said he saw people park their cars at homes across the street and carry their groceries through the creek to their homes.
Almost every road for residential homes follows a waterway, Clere said. As the water rises and flows suddenly, it erodes dirt and rock under the roads. That erosion leads to collapse.
“But the people that live along these roads have been extremely happy to see Army vehicles, especially the dump trucks, skid steers, and backhoes working to rebuild their ways out,” Clere said. “They come out offering us drinks and hot food. It’s incredible to see their support.”