Sunapee schedules culvert replacements on three roads, warns of delays

Drivers on Nutting Road, Messer Road and Garnet Hill Road should expect work-zone slowdowns later this month as Sunapee prepares to replace four culverts and warned that detours, partial lane closures and even temporary full closures could still be used if needed. The town said the work is scheduled for Tuesday, June 23 through Thursday, June 25, and again on Monday, June 29, weather permitting.

Sunapee said full road closures are not anticipated at this stage, but it told motorists to allow extra travel time and follow posted traffic-control signs and instructions from work crews. Even without a full shutdown, the project is likely to reshape travel on the affected roads for short stretches, with rerouted traffic and delays possible as equipment and crews move through the work sites.

The culvert replacements matter because they are part of the drainage system that keeps roads usable during heavy rain and runoff. In a separate June highway notice, the town said its crews have been cleaning catch basins, inspecting them and flushing culverts throughout town to improve drainage, maintain proper stormwater flow and help reduce localized roadway flooding during heavy rain events.

That maintenance fits with the Highway Department’s stated mission to maintain and improve town highways, sidewalks, stormwater collection systems, bridges, dams, intersection signalization and other town infrastructure. In practical terms, the work is aimed at avoiding bigger breakdowns later, when an undersized or worn-out culvert can back up water, wash out a road edge or force a longer closure after a storm.

The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services says culverts are a key part of stream-crossing and stormwater management, and its guidance says certified culvert maintainers working for public works can maintain, repair or replace some culverts without a wetlands permit if state-law requirements are met. The agency also identifies upgrading outdated, undersized, perched or degraded culverts as a flood-risk reduction strategy.

For Sunapee, the timing points to a preventive fix rather than an emergency repair. A week of inconvenience on Nutting Road, Messer Road and Garnet Hill Road is intended to protect the roads themselves, preserve access for school transportation and emergency vehicles and reduce the chance that a summer storm turns a drainage problem into a much larger outage.