FAIRLEE — A stretch of Route 5 that was closed last month due to a rockslide will likely remain closed through mid-May.
The Vermont Agency of Transportation is in the process of soliciting bids to remove rocks that are in danger of tumbling down a roughly 300-foot rock ledge on Route 5 in an area known as “The Ledges,” said Bruce Martin, a VTrans project manager who is overseeing the project.
“We have a completion date right before Memorial Day,” Martin said in a Wednesday phone interview. “The goal is to start as soon as the contractor can get mobilized out there.”
The total project cost is not yet known, Martin said, adding that the agency is waiting for bids to come in. Whatever the cost, it will be funded by a mix of federal and state funds, not by local Fairlee tax dollars.
He described the project as “a priority” for the agency. Whichever contractor is selected will “basically have a month to get everything done.”
The project involves scaling the loose material off the rockface and removing it from the site, Martin said. The contractor will also have to work with the Washington County Railroad, a freight line near the stretch of Route 5 where the rockslide occurred.
“There are several rocks up there that are still loose. There’s that potential of them coming down,” Martin said, adding that estimates put the weight at 275 tons — or 550,000 pounds. “It can get a lot of energy coming down.”
Once the work is done, the agency will continue to keep a close eye on the slope to see if more work needs to be done to stabilize the ledge, Martin said.
The stretch of Route 5 between Sawyer Mountain Drive and Mountain Road in Fairlee has been closed since March 10 after large pieces of rock tumbled down a ledge onto Route 5. The rockslide was caused by the freeze/thaw cycle in which water entering through cracks in the rocks during the day and then freezing at night destabilized the material. No one was injured.
Fairlee Police Chief Wayne Briggs said the closure has not had a huge effect on the town because Interstate 91 remains open.
“It’s an inconvenience for our locals,” Briggs said. VTrans also is working on finishing up a yearslong rock stabilization project between exits 15 and 16 on the interstate, which has often rerouted traffic onto Route 5.
Some motorists have not been obeying the plastic barriers that block off the road.
“The first thing I do every morning is reset barrels,” Briggs said in a Thursday morning phone interview.
So far, Briggs said he’s ticketed one motorist whom he saw in the act of driving on the closed road.
“I can’t be there 24 hours a day,” Briggs said.
For more information about the project, contact Martin at 802-595-9653 or
bruce.b.martin@vermont.gov.
