by Leah Justice
leah.justice@tryondailybulletin.com

After about a month of being closed off, Jervey Road should be repaired soon as the Tryon Town Council approved a $40,542 bid from Hyder Construction Company out of Landrum to repair a sinkhole.

Tryon Town Council met Sept. 16 and approved the bid after hearing from town manager Joey Davis and public works director Joel Burrell that the size of the project was beyond what the town could do itself.

Hyder Costruction was the lowest bid out of three bids received.

The 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.

Burrell said the problem with the road is that part of the culvert is concrete and part is metal pipe and it has separated at its joints. Burrell said the metal pipe has likely been there 50 years or more so it’s likely rusted on the bottom and time to replace it.

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 for the last month to detour the area.

Commissioners Bill Ingham and George Baker expressed concern about the town issuing a resident a ticket for going around the barricades. Ingham urged the town to proceed with the project quickly, saying there are a lot of people who have been inconvenienced because of the sinkhole.

Council approved Hyder’s bid unanimously. The town plans to pay for the contract out of its fund balance.