Wet Weather causes collape on Vergennes Blacktop.

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The collapse of the north shoulder of the Elkville to Vergennes Blacktop closed the stretch of county highway about 10 days ago, and ongoing rains have limited the progress on making repairs and getting the only meaningful link between Elkville and Vergennes reopened. The Department of Abandoned Mines within the Illinois Department of Natural Resources undertook a project this summer to get rid of the steep 12-foot dropoff below the roadway. In the middle of the work, the shoulder (pictured) collapsed, endangering motorists, particularly school buses and heavy trucks. The county highway department closed the road altogether. Because of the collapse Elverado school buses are having to backtrack north and west through Dowell, cross over to Rt. 13, then head south to connect to the Vergennes Attendance Center. A diesel pump is evacuating millions of gallons of water from the work site, but more rain the last two days will delay the complete repair until well into next week.