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by Charlotte Smith

Last week BladenOnline reporter, Blake Proctor wrote about the happenings at the Town of Dublin commissioners’ meeting. In the report, drainage system complaints are addressed, and communication issues with the North Carolina Department of Transportation are acknowledged. However, NCDOT representative offers a rebuttal to the report.

Dublin’s Public Works Director, Jonathan Ward, explained to BladenOnline’s reporter that the Town has been attempting to rectify the drainage system issues for months, if not years, yet, NCDOT has ignored all their pleas for assistance.

However, due to time constraints, NCDOT was not contacted for comment before the publication of the article. Today, Andrew Barksdale, Mobility and Safety Officer with NCDOT, responded to BladenOnline’s report.

According to Barksdale, the local NCDOT maintenance office located in Elizabethtown responds to and investigates local towns and citizens’ complaints about issues regarding state-maintained roads.

“In particular, we fixed a drainage-ditch problem on C Street in October, (which is a T-intersection with NC 87) south of the Town. We also cleaned out some ditches along the sides of roads and crossline pipes in and around Dublin,” Barksdale explained in his response about the complaints brought out at the Dublin meeting.

A Dublin resident addressing the Town of Dublin commissioners last week, Mr. Clifton Ford, complained stormwater runoff from the highway is causing havoc with his foundation.

Countering Ford’s complaints, Barksdale stated, “And last month, we fixed a leaky box connected to a storm drain on N.C. 410 near the intersection with N.C. 87 inside Dublin. (This is referenced in the article.) The box is underground and where the stormwater collects after draining off the roadway. The leak was causing some erosion to the side of the road, but the problem was not causing flooding, or ponding, on the highway itself.”

He continued, “In addition, according to our records, Mr. Ford has never contacted us, at least not in the past five years, about any issues to his property along N.C. 87 across from the Dublin Primary School. But, we are going to contact him to find out what issues may be occurring. Sometimes, a property owner’s drainage issue is not occurring on our roadway or right of way, but we can still advise the property owner on what steps he or she can take to alleviate the problem.”

Proctor’s report states that sinkholes have appeared on the edges of the highway of both northbound and southbound outside lanes and are beginning to erode under the pavement itself.

Barksdale stated NCDOT representatives would be contacting Mr. Ward to investigate the report of sinkholes forming on N.C. 87.