Jetton tunnel near Meta in a golf course safety mirror

Oct. 23. By Dave Yochum. Is the golf tunnel under Jetton Road at Meta structurally safe? Most likely it is, but a Cornelius Town Commissioner wants to make sure that’s the case. In an email to town officials, Commissioner Jim Duke said he has received information that the tunnel “may be experiencing some issues relating to durability and a possible failure hazard.”

The tunnel dates back more than two decades to pre-Peninsula days when Jetton Road was raised to accommodate the tunnel. Five years ago the Town of Cornelius took over the road from NCDOT.

It was repaved at state expense in April 2015.

COMMISSIONER JIM DUKE

Because of construction and engineering flaws dating back to when Crescent Resources developed The Peninsula 25 years ago, the Jetton road bed was dug up and ground down about 15 inches, as much as five times deeper than an ordinary repaving job.

Inspection needed

Flash forward to today and Duke, who lives in The Peninsula, has asked for the tunnel to be “inspected in the future.”

Town Manager Andrew Grant said the town will be taking a look as well as asking The Peninsula Club to investigate.

Not abundantly clear is whose responsibility the tunnel is.

“This could be a potentially serious safety and expense problem,” Duke said.