Old Coal Road Under Discussion

The Muskingum County Engineer plans to contact the prosecutor’s office about an apparently abandoned coal road.

A portion of Church Hill Road that runs past the property of Bennett Woerner was once used by Oxford Coal now Westmoreland Coal to haul their product.

This portion of the road has since been left in disuse and dead ends at Woerner’s farm. Woerner would like to see the road either vacated or maintained.

“They could put the old road back in and put a thru road past his place, which I don’t think the land owner has an issue with or it has to be officially vacated part of that land and a cul de sac installed so it’s safe for fire trucks turn around, school buses to turn around and it’s an official dead in at that point in time,” said Muskingum County Engineer Doug Davis.

For any plan to happen the coal company and the Ohio Division of Natural Resources Division of Mines must agree to turn the road back over to the county or fix the road. While Woerner’s attorney and Davis have both attempted to contact Westmoreland Coal, which only just recently acquired Oxford Coal, it’s been difficult to find a contact person.

“The land owners need to have something done on their behalf and it shouldn’t be their responsibility of roadways just not being taken care of that’s private property and they have to travel on private property to get to their properties,” said Davis.

County Commissioners have asked Davis to contact the prosecutor’s office to see if they can file suit against the coal company in this matter. Woerner’s attorney Adam Barclay has agreed to wait and see what the county can do before taking any steps forward.