by Leah Justice
leah.justice@tryondailybulletin.com

After almost four months of being closed, Tryon’s Jervey Road residents will have to wait another couple of weeks before the road is reopen.

The town closed Jervey Road on Aug. 22 after it was reported that the road was sinking in. A creek runs under that section of the road and drivers have been asked to detour the area through Lake Lanier.

Tryon council approved a bid for $40,542 in September to Hyder Construction to repair the sinkhole, but has since run into delays because the area is located in a flood plain.

Tryon Town Manager Joey Davis said the total cost of the project has not yet been  determined because of the delays, but should be between $40,000-$50,000. Tryon decided to take the money out of its fund balance.

The town had to wait for approval from the state because of the flood plain, which is what caused the delay.

The town originally thought its crews could do the work, but after looking into the project the town decided to contract out the work. Hyder Construction’s bid includes equipment, labor, back fill dirt, taking up the old pipe, a box culvert, 31.2 tons of bedding stone, box culvert footing and headwalls, stone base and asphalt repairs.

One of the problems with the road is that part of the culvert is concrete and part is metal pipe and it has separated at its joints, according to the town’s public work’s department. The town thinks the metal pipe has been there for at least 50 years and there’s likely rust on the bottom.

Davis said the town hopes to have work complete and the road reopen by Christmas, weather permitting. Work left to do includes pouring sidewalls to support the roadbed, installing the new pipe and repairing the road.