Russellville City Councilman and Franklin County Engineer David Palmer emerges after crawling a block under the street downtown.

It’s not every day one sees a city councilman climbing up out of a manhole in the street after crawling 100 yards, inspecting pipe under downtown city streets.

But that’s how David Palmer spent Monday morning.

“If Palmer sees a problem, he’s going after it,” said Fire Chief Joe Mansell, whose department came out to assist Palmer in his efforts to discover the cause of a road problem on Jackson Avenue near the Cotaco Street intersection.

Palmer searches for the cause of a dip in Jackson Avenue.

Palmer began a block away under Cotaco Street, examining the pipe all the way down the block, accompanied by a Russellville firefighter. They found the problem directly underneath the suspicious dip in the road, which has dropped two inches from level in that spot.

“The top of the pipe is just broken completely, and it looks like it might have been like that for a while,” Palmer said. “It’s got to be fixed.”

Lt. Pace shows Russellville firefighters damage he and Palmer discovered.

The storm sewer pipe will need to be fixed quickly, Palmer said, to address what is a dangerous situation.

The wear in the pipe can be chalked up to deterioration over time – emblematic of a nationwide problem, Palmer said.

“This is an epidemic, to be honest with you – not just here but throughout our country,” Palmer said. “When they built this huge infrastructure that we have all been so proud of and that has helped us become the country we are, they didn’t think about all the money it was going to take through the years to maintain it.”

The road has dropped by about two inches from where it should be.

The goal, Palmer said, is to become proactive to keep city infrastructure up-to-par and to perform preventative maintenance. But in the meantime, problems like these have to be addressed when they crop up.

Palmer said the problem can be fixed with shotcrete, likely within the week, with only one lane of Jackson Avenue being closed near that intersection for a couple of days.

“In about 24 hours, it will be harder than any concrete you’ve ever seen,” Palmer said.

Palmer praised Mansell and the Russellville Fire Department for their willingness to help out when called upon.