Sometimes, “breaking down a wall” is a positive metaphor for building community among different people. In this case, breaking down a wall was literal destruction in Russellville.
Russellville street superintendent Shannon Wilson got the call around 1 a.m. Friday from the Russellville Police Department with the news that the retaining wall bordering the Old College Avenue School and Limestone Street had collapsed, with debris spilling out into the roadway.
“It was out in the middle of Limestone Street. It had fallen and slid out into the middle of the street,” Wilson said. “We were afraid someone would come up on it and run over it because it was hard to see. It was raining so hard.”
So in the pouring rain and gusting winds, Wilson and a crew member with the street department cleared the roadway, pushing all debris to the sidewalk with a backhoe. It was an hour and a half job that was just a portion of Wilson’s night. He said he spent most of the night out dealing with flash floods that resulted in water covering roads.
“We had trees down and all kinds of stuff last night,” he said.
Alan Wilson, Russellville City Schools transportation and maintenance supervisor, found out about the wall early Friday morning and headed out to check on the damage. It was an unfortunate, but not surprising, situation.
“I’ve been expecting it a long time,” he said. “I went to school here 40 years ago, and I would have thought it would have fallen then.”
He said the wall has been leaning for years, and it seems the rush of water from quick rainfall was finally the final straw.
“The city is going to clean the debris off the sidewalk for us next week so we can look and see what we’ve got to work with, and we’ll get a couple of contractors out here and get a price on what it would take to repair the wall or take the wall out and do some sloping,” he said.
The missing wall, Alan Wilson added, does not pose any danger or threat. It’s essentially an aesthetic issue. The city and school system will, nevertheless, aim to rectify the situation as quickly as possible.
“We’ll move fairly quickly on it because it looks bad,” said Alan Wilson, who has served as RCS transportation and maintenance supervisor for six years. “
The wall adjoins the parking lot next to the Head Start building, at the intersection of Limestone Street and College Avenue.