New London Road at Lowell Hill closed indefinitely

Conditions on New London Road (County Road X23) on Lowell Hill have deteriorated, forcing the Henry County Engineer’s Office to close the road on Lowell Hill, just south of Lowell.

“The cracks have shifted out of the southbound lane,” County Engineer Jake Hotchkiss said Wednesday morning. “The instability is increasing, so we had to close the road for safety reasons.”

The county previously closed only the southbound lane to deal with a slide down the hillside to the Skunk River.

“We were hoping to slow it down,” Hotchkiss said. “Now, we are looking at options to be able to address the problem.”

There is a posted detour that runs south on New London Road to Highway 16 east in Lee County.

The detour continues on Highway 16 east, then turns north on 280th Avenue (Bridgeport Road) and west on County Road J20 back into Henry County and into the north side of Lowell.

Hotchkiss said that there is no timeline for the reopening of the road.