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Abby Prentiss

Beach Fanatic
May 17, 2007
577
123
When their cries for help went seemingly unanswered, some business owners appealed to a higher power – former Gov. Mike Huckabee.


"I doubt I did much, but I'd rather think that people in government are starting to realize that a project like this CAN be done lickety-split when government decides that people and their livelihoods are the highest priority — far above protecting the process of slow-walked paperwork," he told The Sun by email.

Marie's owner Hanie Nasri has become friendly with the former presidential hopeful and bemoaned to him what the road closure and detour was doing to his business and income for him and his employees.

"We used to have a lot of business coming over from Grayton for lunch. Now they tell us they will wait until the road is fixed," said Nasri. "This has been very devastating to us. We have lost a tremendous amount of business. We struggled through Labor Day. We are down 80 percent for lunch and 85 percent for dinner.”


Nasri says Huckabee stepped up to the plate. This week, dump trucks were seen at the site and repairs are underway. Nasri said the washout has been filled in and is just awaiting a coat of asphalt.


“We didn't want to give up,” Nasri said. “We will work harder, but we needed help. I thank God for his help."


The county spokesman said he was not aware of Huckabee’s role in getting the road fixed, but Huckabee acknowledged to The Sun that he did indeed offer to make contacts that would be helpful after talking with some local people on 30A about how devastating this is for their businesses.

Nasri said he believes Huckabee bypassed the county and made calls to Gov. Rick Scott and Rep. Steve Southerland to get the road repaired sooner rather than later.


"If this had happened at Seaside or WaterColor it would not have taken but a couple of days to figure something out," said Nasri. "We didn't want to waste time. We needed the road fixed in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
 

Matt J

SWGB
May 9, 2007
24,646
9,496
about-to-fail-construction-worker.jpg
 

miznotebook

Beach Fanatic
Jul 8, 2009
962
603
Stone's throw from Inlet Bch
At county commission today, public works said that slip liners had been delivered that would be placed inside the damaged culverts and would then be grouted. They plan on putting down asphalt after that is done, and they expect to have the road open on Friday.
 

Bdarg

Beach Fanatic
Jul 11, 2005
341
200
Point Washington
It is unfortnate that they were in such a rush to slap up a repair that they used red clay to backfill this dam which is on one of our coastal dune lakes. As a protected coastal dune lake there are restrictions on the material that can be used; red clay is not one of them. If a storm washes the dam out again (we are just midway through huricane season), we will have red sand beaches and a dead dune lake. I understand the anxiety of the road closure, however care must be taken so that the quick fix does not result in a permanent scar to our beach.
 

jodiFL

Beach Fanatic
Jul 28, 2007
2,476
733
SOWAL,FL
Let's take things in order. 1st, get the road safely open. 2nd, get the proper permitting. 3rd, fix the road permanently. I'll leave how this is to be done to the engineers and local administration. I'll also thank anyone who assists SoWal do so in any manner, shape or form, including Hanie and Mike Huckabee. I'll particularly thank our County Commissioner, Sara Commander, who has been on top of this effort and has been gracious enough to keep this lonely Walton County resident informed because he asked her to do so. For those who want to help, thank you. For those who want to hinder in any way, get a life!
I think your "order" in a little off. Get the proper permitting should have been the first thing they did.
 
It is unfortnate that they were in such a rush to slap up a repair that they used red clay to backfill this dam which is on one of our coastal dune lakes. As a protected coastal dune lake there are restrictions on the material that can be used; red clay is not one of them. If a storm washes the dam out again (we are just midway through huricane season), we will have red sand beaches and a dead dune lake. I understand the anxiety of the road closure, however care must be taken so that the quick fix does not result in a permanent scar to our beach.
If that were to happen, it would give a new meaning to Big REDfish Lake. Argh!

Thanks, Bdarg for posting your valuable comments based on education and experience.
 

Kurt

Admin
Staff member
Oct 15, 2004
2,233
4,925
SoWal
mooncreek.com
WALTON COUNTY REPAIRS CR 30A AT BIG REDFISH LAKE; ANTICIPATE OPENING SOON


DeFuniak Springs, FL… Beginning last week, the Walton County District 5 Road Crew began work to back-fill and repair the area of CR 30A at Big Redfish Lake where the road collapsed during an August rain event.


At this time, the Road Crews are working to repair a culvert in that location in order to move towards reopening the road. Barring any setbacks, crews are working diligently to have the road open as soon as Friday, September 13th.


As progress continues to be made, Walton County will continue to provide updates on the actual reopening of CR 30A at Big Redfish Lake.


In addition, the County is moving forward to obtain the necessary permits and work on design for a permanent bridge that would be constructed there in the future. As you may be aware the permitting process can be lengthy so in the issuance of being able to open the road to the public, this seems like the best option. Once permits have been established and the design process has been completed, it will be decided when to re-close that section of road for construction.


While crews work to reopen that section as soon as possible, it will not be reopened until it is deemed safe.
 

Will B

Moderator
Jan 5, 2006
4,530
1,279
Atlanta, GA
Going back and looking at all the pics, I don't believe that the "fill" is red clay. Addmitedly, the color looks different in all the pictures, but it's not clearly red clay until that last picture where they are packing the road bed. The construction is no different than what washed out. Go back and look at the shots of the washed out road. There is red clay there, too, as the road bed but not as the fill below it. It's in clearly defined layers...
 
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