Resident urges Chilton County to fix Wash Creek road after repeated washouts

Shane Welch, a resident of the Wash Creek area, told the Chilton County Commission during public comment that a narrow turn and bridge on Wash Creek off County Road 156 has washed out repeatedly and poses a safety risk. "There's multiple logging trucks that come across it. I have been witness to at least 3 vehicular crashes in the past 2 years, and 1 of them almost ended in a death," Welch said.

Welch said the community — which he estimated at about 20 to 30 people — has experienced increased runoff and erosion, worsened by logging activity and overflow from nearby ponds. He said a school bus currently crosses the site and that riprap placed there has been repeatedly ripped away by high flows; he asked the county to install a spillway or larger culvert rather than "band-aid" repairs. "If we could potentially put a request in ... make it like a spillway so it stops the eroding," Welch said.

The commission chair and county staff confirmed that County Engineer Heath was aware of the problem and that staff had begun communicating; the resident said he had been referred to another staffer, Matt, and that communications had been slow until recently. The chair asked Welch to submit a work request online so the county can track the issue and said staff would follow up. "I'll get with our engineer, see what his plans are. And if you put this in the form of a work request online," the chair said.

The exchange at the meeting produced no formal motion or vote. Staff indicated they would contact Welch with the next steps and timing, and Welch requested a direct call to keep neighbors informed. The record shows discussion of a possible additional pipe or culvert, but Welch and staff agreed that an online work request is the official mechanism for a tracked work order and that further engineering analysis would determine whether a single additional pipe or a larger spillway is required.