Cobb County

Neighbors afraid Cobb County road will collapse if not fixed soon

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A number of neighbors in Austell are concerned that a road will collapse if it’s not fixed.

Neighbors told Channel 2′s Michele Newell that they have to drive in the wrong lane just to avoid sections of Mulberry Street that appear to be caving in.

Not long after Newell contacted the city about the situation, a crew came out and placed orange cones over parts of the street that are caving in.

Neighbors Newell spoke with are just hoping this doesn’t get worse.

“It’s getting worse. It’s consistently dropping, that’s my concern,” neighbor Denise Montes said.

“To avoid that, we have to drive on the wrong side of the road. You don’t want to do that. I don’t want to do that,” neighbor Daniel Lamb said.

Newell drove down Mulberry Street to see what neighbors are concerned about. Parts of the road are uneven and appear to be caving in.

You can also see a lot of patchwork on the problem areas.

TRENDING STORIES:

“One of the first patches in the front of my house that’s a fairly new patch. It’s less than a year old and it’s already dropped several inches,” Montes said.

“It doesn’t look like it’s holding up all that well,” Lamb said. “I’d like to see them go beyond patchwork and perhaps really diagnose what’s happening.”

“I have repeatedly tried to contact the city in an effort to just bring attention to the fact that our road is collapsing,” Montes said.

Newell contacted the city about the problem.

According to the Public Works Director for the City of Austell, the dirt has settled under the roadway near the sewer line causing the pavement to sink. The city will excavate that center section of the road and replace it with compacted rock before the repaving project starts next Friday.

“Within 30 minutes after me contacting you, our exchange, the city is now putting out cones,” Montes said.

City officials plan to fix the root of the problem on the street and then repave it. The city told Newell that plan to do that next week.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Michele Newell

Michele Newell, WSB-TV

Michele Newell has been part of the WSB-TV family since November 2021. Before moving to Atlanta, Michele worked at TV news stations in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Columbus, Ohio and Steubenville, Ohio.