Muskingum Avenue reopens

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- A busy road has reopened after being closed for nearly a year.

Muskingum Avenue — also known as Dug Road — was shut down earlier this year after falling rock fell into the road causing major safety concerns. The city shut the road down while they worked to find a solution to fix it.

“We had two major slips. Large rocks come off the hillside,” said Mayor Jeff Tilton. “One actually got on the roadway and a car hit it. A second one was a large rock plus a tree that fell down.”

Now the road is being reopened today allowing motorists access between Putnam and Pine Street. Mayor Tilton said the city found a way to protect drivers on the road and believes this is the first step in the right direction.

“We have what they call jersey barriers in place that control one lane of traffic and so there’s a buffer zone between the hillside and the traffic as it moves,” said Tilton. 

The hope is that the barrier will keep any falling rock from rolling into the road where it can cause an accident. The city did have to make some adjustments to the road to accommodate the barrier.

“It’s only one lane of traffic. It will be controlled by traffic signal…but it will be both ways so that people can come from Putnam and also come from Pine Street,” said Tilton.  

Mayor Tilton said there’s still work to be done. At some point the city would like to push the hill back to help make the road even safer, but they don’t currently have the money to fund the project. As for whether or not the road closure affected businesses, Tilton said the closure was necessary.

“There’s been questions of hurting the businesses on the lower end of Muskingum Avenue, but we’ve got to make it safe for our citizens. And we feel that this is the safest alternative we have at this time.”