ATHENS — A tangle of large logs wedged beneath the Currier Street bike path bridge is headed for removal, as the Athens County Planning Commission Office and the City of Athens have prepared draft bid specifications for the clearing work.
The draft spells out how the job must be done. The contractor will have to be insured, and crews will reach the site from the well field to the north rather than coming in along the bike path or from Currier Street itself, Athens County Planner Connor LaVelle explained to county commissioners.
The logs themselves are the central problem. Because of their size, the contractor will be required to remove them in a way that keeps them from drifting downstream, and to separate and recycle any solid waste mixed into the pile. The goal, LaVelle said in substance, is to limit anything that gets sent down the river.
That caution follows federal guidance. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regards trees of that size as dangerous once they are moving in the current, and its recommendation is not to let them travel far downstream — a concern for bridges, banks, and anyone using the river below Athens.
The city and the county would split the cost of the removal. LaVelle has also reached out to the Kanawha River Railroad, which operates a nearby rail line, to ask about helping with the cleanup effort. A tree that fell out of the bank has exposed that bank near the railroad to erosion, he told the railroad, but he has not yet received a response from its management.
The railroad bank is the commissioners’ sharpest worry. Board Vice President Charlie Adkins raised concern that erosion near the line could compromise safety, especially because the railroad handles chemicals. Board President Lenny Eliason noted that neither the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency nor the Athens County Emergency Management Agency has jurisdiction to stop railroad operations — the Army Corps of Engineers can.
For bike path users, the work should mean a contractor operating from the well field side rather than closing down the path or Currier Street for access, if the final specifications hold to the draft. The next step is sending the project out to bid, with the city-county cost split and the railroad still to be heard from.