LONDONDERRY — Stormwater buildup has compromised a temporary culvert on Spring Hill Road, closing the road to through traffic until further notice.
The 6-foot pipe was installed this fall to replace a larger culvert damaged by the severe floods that hit Londonderry – as well as towns throughout Vermont – in July 2023.
An excess of stormwater following last week’s snowstorm and, more recently, two days of rain has undermined the culvert, according to Town Administrator Shane O’Keefe. This has caused the surface pavement to sink in a manner that poses a threat to vehicular traffic, he said, particularly heavy vehicles.
“We have therefore closed the road to all vehicular traffic until further notice,” O’Keefe said. “The Town Highway Department is collaborating with an excavation contractor to remediate the situation once the flood waters subside.”
Installed in September, the temporary structure replaced a culvert that was washed away by the overflowing Eddy Brook in July’s severe floods. The town of Londonderry is currently seeking reimbursement from FEMA for the replacement, O’Keefe said, while designing a more permanent structure to be installed in 2025.
The planned project will replace the 6-foot pipe with a 20-foot box culvert, for which the town has earned $475,000 in funding through various VTrans initiatives, including the Structures Program and the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP). This funding is expected to cover just over half of the project’s overall cost, according to O’Keefe.
“The new damage does not impact the future work as I see it, but only makes the long-term fix all [the] more important to implement,” he said.
Elsewhere in Londonderry, the West River was raging on Friday morning as rain continued to fall. Downtown, workers stood outside of Jelley's Convenience Store and watched the river rise just feet away. Though the store faced significant flooding last year, business proceeded as usual on Friday as residents kept their eyes on the water.
