Work underway to reopen New London Road

Crews are working to get a temporary road finished to reopen New London Road (County Road X23) on the south side of Lowell.

The road has been closed since Aug. 11 after a landslide destroyed the road. Work is being done to strengthen the road in preparation for the upcoming harvest and winter months.

“Once we get traffic moved back over, we will really start working on the permanent restoration,” County Engineer Jake Hotchkiss told the Henry County Board of Supervisors Tuesday morning. “The reason behind it is with the ER (Emergency Relief) funds and the fact that we need to restore traffic as harvest time is approaching, and we need to fulfill that. There is a need with the county next to us closing their road that would lengthen our detour substantially, and there’s also a side road that people are using that won’t be able to handle winter traffic.”

Currently, workers are in the second phase of surfacing the temporary road. The operation is to construct a sub base with gravel and rock to harden the weaker soil.

With the road not being 100 percent, Hotchkiss is taking extra precautions to make the temporary road safe for travelers.

“There will be a 30 mph sign, and when you go from a paved road to a gravel, there will be a sign that says ‘rough road’ with flags,” Hotchkiss said. “That’s the process right now.”

As of right now, the detour around the closed road runs south on New London Road, joining Highway 16 in Lee County.

After Highway 16, the route turns north on 280th Avenue (Bridgeport Road) and then west on Country Road J20, leading back into Henry County and to the north side of the road closure.

While the road is moving closer to reopening, Hotchkiss says that there is currently no set timeline for when that opening may be.

The road was closed because a portion of the land began breaking up and sliding down the hillside to the Skunk River.

Hotchkiss explained that the county has a 50-foot right of way on both sides of the road, enabling crews to move the road away from the hillside.

“We moved the road over quite a bit and lowered the profile,” he said. “Things look like they’re stable right now, but things can change.

“We shifted our road anywhere from 20 to 30 feet to the south.”

He said that the temporary road will be 28 feet wide and have a narrow shoulder on the south side and sharp curves.

Hotchkiss said the he believes the damage was caused by heavy rains that raised the level of the Skunk River. When the river level dropped, it pulled moisture from the hillside causing the road slide.