Each week, VPR reaches out to different local newspapers to find out what stories are top-of-mind in their communities.
This week, we speak with Gregory Lamoureux from The County Courier about flood damage under a section of highway in Franklin County.
Read Gregory Lamoureux's full story in The County Courier here.
Lamoreux reported that following last Halloween's wind-and-rain storm, the Vermont Agency of Transportation was fixing a damaged culvert underneath the Interstate 89 off ramp by Exit 18 in Georgia when workers noticed there was a dip in the highway median, meaning the culvert there was deteriorating, too.
In order to fix that median culvert — which, according to Lamoreux, is 580 feet long — VTRANS plans to install a smaller culvert inside of the existing culvert along I-89.
"They have had to close one lane to traffic northbound," he said. "They announced this week that one lane southbound, at least during the day, is going to be closed."
Lamoreux reported the cost for repairing the flood damage to both culverts is expected to total $7.3 million.
"It was damaged in a storm — the federal government is likely to pick up a large percentage of that repair," he said.
