County Road 50 Near Colchester Reopens

County Road 50 over the Lonsberry Drain, just east of Colchester, reopened today following a 12-week culvert replacement project.

After successfully obtaining special administrative and environmental approvals, the County undertook this vital infrastructure work early in the year to minimize traffic disruptions along the popular wine route ahead of tourist season. 

Crews working on the project encountered an unusual number of hiccups after construction commenced in early March, including a run of cold and rainy weather, old drainage pipes, and debris unearthed during excavation of the original bridge that spanned the drain.

Karyn Templin, Manager of Design and Construction for the County’s Infrastructure and Planning Services Department, said that while every big bridge or culvert replacement project encounters unexpected issues or delays of some kind, this project was “very extreme” in that regard.

“Early on we found a concrete wall in the ground, on both sides of the road. We didn’t know what it was from, or for, until a nearby resident only about a week ago came to us with an old book, called Harrow and Colchester South: 1792 – 1992. And it has a picture of the original bridge over Lonsberry Drain from 1919, and you can see the exact wall that we found,” she said.

“But at first, we don’t know why it’s there, we don’t know what it’s doing. We don’t know if we can safely remove it without causing a different problem. It was a very substantial concrete wall.”

Templin worked with the contractor, Rudak Excavating, and consultant, Landmark Engineers, to tackle that unexpected issue along with another: a large volume of loose sand intermixed with concrete debris that went almost 20 feet deep and stretched some 50 feet long.

“There was so much debris that we actually had to change our approach and dig it all out in order to construct the culvert because we just couldn’t work with all that debris in the ground,” said Templin. “We had to dig it out, haul it away, and pay to dispose of it – none of which we planned for, of course.”

A third unexpected underground discovery was a section of old, drainage pipe.  Without knowing what purpose this pipe originally served, and confirmation that it was, in fact, abandoned, it was a challenge to determine what to do with it to move forward with construction.

“There are always unexpected issues, but this was well beyond normal. Nothing in construction ever goes perfectly, nothing ever goes exactly as you plan it. But on top of those typical delays, and the weather delays, we had all these other issues on this job,” said Templin. “The team pulled together, though, put in the time, the effort, the hours, and got it done – on time and within budget! It’s very impressive.”

While County 50 has reopened, pedestrian railings on either side of the bridge will be installed in coming weeks, once delivered, to complete the project.