The Lyndon community has spoken.
The town’s hazard mitigation committee decided against taking any steps toward permanently removing the historic Sanborn Covered Bridge from its perch over the Passumpsic River, despite a recent study showing that removing it would have a sizable impact on floodwater levels.
The committee’s decision on Monday followed a tense public meeting on Aug. 22, at which a number of participants questioned the study’s findings and instead blamed the town’s frequent floods on its inability to dredge its rivers.
“There’s no point in arguing any further with the Sanborn Bridge,” committee member and engineer Nate Sicard said at Monday’s meeting, noting that “in a perfect world” the bridge would be removed. “There’s people with lots of different opinions, and it’s just a headache to go down that road.”
Instead, the committee decided to pursue two different projects: floodplain restoration at the town’s former highway garage site and replacing the culverts underneath Main Street (near the covered bridge site) with a “dry bridge” — one that crosses dry land under normal conditions but allows water to pass underneath during flood events.
The selected projects, part of a yearlong flood reduction study conducted by SLR Consulting, were submitted in an initial application for FEMA funding and are expected to undergo further cost analysis.
Floodplain restoration at the former highway garage site is projected to decrease flood levels adjacent to that site by 2.4 inches during a 500-year flood, or floods with a 0.2% chance of happening every year, based on FEMA designations.
Lyndon saw two 500-year flood events in July.
During a 500-year flood, the dry bridge project is projected to decrease nearby water levels by 6 inches and decrease water levels by 3.6 inches at the manufactured home park.
Separate from the flood reduction study, the Sanborn Covered Bridge is in the midst of a multiyear, multimillion-dollar restoration project slated to be finished in 2025. The bridge was temporarily removed from the river earlier this month as part of the renovation.
While the hazard mitigation committee green-lit the bridge returning to its spot above the river, what remains to be seen is how the design for the restored bridge may change based on data from the flood reduction study.
Marty Feltus, chair of the hazard mitigation committee, said during Monday’s meeting that leaders of the Sanborn Bridge restoration project do not yet have a final design and are “extremely willing” to consider changes.
“They are certainly willing to consider changes in the elevation … and also changes in the abutment construction,” Feltus said. “They’re not pooh-poohing this study by any means. They’re aware of it and they want to make the right decisions.”
According to the data, removing the bridge and associated fill would have opened up the constricted section of river and reduced nearby floodwater levels by a foot during 500-year flood events. Just upstream at the manufactured home park, bridge removal was projected to reduce flood levels by 7.2 inches during a 500-year flood.
Reinstalling the bridge at the higher level — as currently proposed by the restoration project — would reduce floodwater levels during a 500-year event by 6 inches near the bridge and 3.6 inches at the manufactured home park.
One hazard mitigation committee member, Holly Taylor, said it concerned her that the committee was not picking a flood reduction project involving the Sanborn Bridge.
“That was clearly the option that has the most reduction (in flood levels),” she said.
Tracy Bodeo, Lyndon’s new planning director, agreed.
“My concern is that just because we had the most vocal people at the meeting were against, you know, moving it, that it’s still not something to consider,” Bodeo said.
However, the majority of committee members seemed to agree that providing the bridge committee with the data and letting it decide what to do was the best course of action.
The bridge’s project manager, Nicole Gratton, feels confident about finding a “sweet spot” where bridge height and design could best protect people and property while still allowing the bridge to remain over the river, according to the Caledonian-Record.
“I think the Sanborn Covered Bridge project is a perfect testing ground for how we move forward in a climate changed and changing world without throwing out the history and culture of a place that gives it its identity,” Gratton told VTDigger via text message.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Lyndon committee decides against covered bridge removal despite flood concerns.