MARSHALL — Erosion on a ditch poses a risk to part of a Lyon County highway, Lyon County staff members said this week. At Tuesday’s meeting of the Lyon County Commissioners, highway engineer Aaron VanMoer and planning and zoning administrator John Biren brought forward options to repair a stretch of County Ditch 4.

“We’d definitely like to see something done here, and take care of the safety aspect of the road, because these (ditch) failures are eating up almost into the pavement,” VanMoer said.

After discussion, commissioners voted to move forward with a plan to move part of the ditch farther away from the road.

VanMoer and Biren said there is a 900-foot stretch of County Ditch 4 that runs parallel to County Road 24, about one mile east of U.S. Highway 59.

“Back when they rebuilt this road in the 1950s, they kept the ditch in the right of way of the road,” he said. “What’s happened is, with the steepness of the ditch, it’s had failures on the bottom . . . There’s some failures in the slope down below on the ditch, and then whatever is above that fails too. It’s slid down, causing the shoulder of the road to be compromised.”

VanMoer and Biren said there were a few possible options to address the problem.

“Being that it takes both of our departments to see a project like this through, John and I have been talking about it for a while,” VanMoer said.

One possibility to repair County Ditch 4 would be to add riprap to the 900-foot stretch of ditch. They could also bury the ditch by building a 900-foot culvert. However, VanMoer said both of those options could be more costly, and the riprap option would reduce the capacity of the ditch.

VanMoer and Biren said their preferred option would be to move the ditch about 25 to 30 feet to the north, and make sure the new ditch segment was adequately sized and sloped.

VanMoer said relocating the ditch would require less than six-tenths of an acre of land.

Biren said he had been communicating with the family that owned the affected land. “They recognize the problem and understand that something needs to happen,” he said.

Biren said if commissioners chose to pursue the ditch relocation option, the next step would be to direct him and VanMoer to work on developing an inspection report and obtaining the right of way required for the project.

Ditch benefits could cover the cost of obtaining the land for the right of way, and construction could be taken care of by the county highway department, Biren said. “Obviously, that decision would come back to this entity, to the drainage authority and county board, for approval,” he said.

Commissioners voted to approve a motion choosing the ditch relocation, and directing VanMoer and Biren to work on obtaining the land for the project.