A portion of Bentwood Hills Drive in Wilder, which has been closed for more than five months after a culvert failure, is set to reopen soon as the city nears completion of a major replacement project.
Wilder City Administrator Terry Vance told city council on Oct. 5 that the project at Bentwood Hills Drive and Lakeview Drive is about 90% complete. Crews are expected to lay a base coat of asphalt this week or early next week, allowing the road to reopen while utility and finishing work continues.
“It’ll be later this week or the first of next week,” Vance said at Monday’s meeting.
The closure began at about 10:30 a.m. April 30, when a portion of Bentwood Hills Drive over Three Mile Creek failed above a 12-foot-diameter culvert. Residents have since been directed to use the newer Bentwood Hills Drive entrance from Three Mile Road.
City engineers later determined the approximately 40-year-old metal culvert had deteriorated from corrosion along its bottom, causing the pipe to curl and collapse.
The city said in an April 30 update via Facebook that engineers determined traffic from the nearby Fischer Homes development and the weight of vehicles did not cause the failure. Instead, the city attributed it to the pipe’s age, decay and corrosion.
The culvert sits roughly 20 to 30 feet underground, requiring extensive excavation. Utilities had to be temporarily relocated, and replacement materials of the necessary size were not readily available locally.
What the city initially estimated would take at least 30 days turned into a project lasting more than five months. By May 5, officials had revised the estimated repair time to about 60 days, depending on weather.
The replacement ultimately involved large precast concrete culvert sections that Vance said weighed roughly 25,000 to 50,000 pounds. He described it as the largest precast culvert used in the area.
By Sept. 15, the new culvert was installed and carried water beneath Bentwood Hills Drive. Crews still needed to modify the headwalls, fill and compact the roadbed and restore pavement.
Even after the road reopens, work will remain. The initial pavement will be a base coat, while electric, fiber and cable utilities still need to be moved back underground. Sidewalk and curb areas and a streetlight also need to be restored.
The city also plans to resurface one lane of Bentwood Hills Drive between the two Lakeview Drive entrances and install guardrails near the culvert’s headwalls.
“It’s like the punch list when you build a house or something,” Vance said. “It’s the final 10% of the work that takes 90% of the time.”
The unexpected project also created a significant expense for Wilder. City council approved financing on Oct. 5 of up to $1.15 million rather than depleting its capital budget, which Vance said would have affected other projects already planned or underway.
The city selected a 10-year loan from JPMorgan Chase at a 4.61% interest rate.
“We got great bids back,” said Brian Skinner of RSA Advisors, which assisted the city with the financing. “Rates actually came in lower than what we had projected for you all.”
Wilder is also expecting $100,000 from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, while about $300,000 in additional general fund capital carryover can help offset project costs.
Once the base asphalt is installed, Vance said remaining work may require temporary lane closures, but the months-long full closure is expected to end.
