— by Duncan Green

Fairlee, VT — The southbound stretch of Interstate 91 between Exit 16 in Bradford and Exit 15 in Fairlee will be closed from July 26 until the end of August as the VT Agency of Transportation works on securing the rock face and ledges alongside the highway, officials announced during a Wednesday evening community forum. Southbound travellers will be rerouted to Route 5 beginning in Bradford during the 35-day construction period, while those heading north should expect regular rolling roadblocks throughout the day.

In February 2024, a rockslide resulted in emergency closures along the stretch of highway—and in months of rolling roadblocks, temporary traffic control, and the re-routing of southbound traffic through Bradford and Fairlee to allow road crews to clear debris and conduct maintenance checks on the road. While these efforts last summer were able to contain the dangerous loose rock, the state will now work to implement a permanent solution. This year’s schedule means that, unlike last summer, both the Fairlee-Orford July 4 parade and the Prouty 50-mile loop will be able to take place as always.

VTrans Project Manager Bruce Martin said the project aims to stabilize the cliff face using rock dowels and mesh. Beginning in late July, crews will “hand scale” loose rock to remove it from the face. Martin called this the most dangerous part of the job, as much of this material is 300-400 feet above the ground. As it’s removed, there is potential for falling rock—which will be cleaned up amid the rolling roadblocks. Following hand scaling, reinforced steel rods will be inserted as support in sections deemed at risk in the future before new mesh is placed across vast sections of the cliff face.

Martin estimates the new mesh will have a 50-year design life, roughly double that of the previous mesh, which—right on time—reached the end of its expected lifetime in early 2024. He expressed hope that the cliff face will not need to be readdressed for decades following the project’s expected completion in mid-November.

Fairlee Town Administrator Ryan Lockwood said the community will be alerted to northbound rolling roadblocks through the Fairlee Focus App as well as the town email listserv and website.

Photo courtesy of the VT Agency of Transportation.

Duncan Green grew up in Plainfield and went to Lebanon High School. He’s now a rising junior at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, studying journalism and history, and served as news editor this past semester for The Daily Orange*, SU’s independent student newspaper. He is Daybreak’s first summer reporting intern.*