Work Begins For White Co. Oak Flatt Road

Repairs for White County’s Oak Flatt Road will begin after the road collapsed in a landslide.

The county commission approved a budget amendment for $750,000 for the bid winner of the repairs. County Executive Denny Wayne Robinson said the county first received a call of a small sink hole in March. After a few days, a chunk in the road caved in.

“The road just slid off a mountain,” Robinson said. “We could not go in there and fix it for a while because you can literally stand there and almost watch it move. So, we had to get some sort of stability there before we could go in and start repairing it.”

Robinson said the road is currently closed causing a 15 minute detour. Robinson said the county estimates the project to be completed before next year.

“We had an engineer come and look at it cause our kids,” Robinson said. “The buses travel that road. We want to make sure it is repaired properly. So, we had engineers involved.”

The road is located about 13 miles northeast of Sparta. Robinson said he has not seen a road failure like this in the area before.

“It was a freak thing,” Robinson said. “That road has been there forever.  It is on the northeastern part of the county and joins Putnam County.”

Robinson said the wet winter might have played a part in the landslide.