WOLCOTT – In November of 2023, the Lamoille County Planning Commission (LCPC), in partnership with the Town of Wolcott, received a $46,499.81 grant award from the Lamoille Basin Clean Water Service Provider for preliminary design of the Gulf Road Bridge Replacement and Floodplain Restoration Project in Wolcott.
photo by Lamoille County Planning Commission
The Gulf Road Bridge is in North Wolcott over the Wild Branch (a tributary to the Lamoille River) southeast of the Gulf Road intersection with North Wolcott Road.
The grant funded 30% of the design for replacing and widening the span of the Gulf Road Bridge, as well as looking at alternatives for upstream floodplain restoration that included a floodplain bench, to restore natural flow of the Wild Branch.
The bridge is now significantly undersized, causing erosion and scouring.
That location has experienced flooding that includes flood waters over-topping the road and bridge during the 2019 Halloween Storm and the July 2023 flood.
The Wild Branch has limited floodplain connectivity in that area now. It would benefit from up-sizing the bridge and floodplain restoration to reduce erosion, scour and phosphorus loading.
The project is a continuation of a priority project identified in the North Wolcott Road Flood Mitigation Evaluation.
In June of 2024, SLR Consulting was contracted with the LCPC to develop a preliminary design and benefit cost analysis.
Public meetings and presentations were held with the Wolcott Select Board and adjacent landowners, along with site visits to gather input during the preliminary design phase. A design review meeting was held with state permitting partners including Vermont Agency of Transportation and Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation. Additional design review meetings were held with Vermont River Conservancy who stewards a river corridor easement on the northeast side of the Gulf Road Bridge.
courtesy Lamoille County Planning Commission
The current bridge built in 1967 has a span of 45 ft. The design plans propose a 70 ft. bridge span to allow passage of 500-year flood flows and all flows of a lesser magnitude without damage.
The bridge experiences heavy truck traffic from the nearby gravel pit. In June 2023, the
Lamoille County Planning Commission conducted a traffic count on just south of the Gulf
Road Bridge, counting a daily averqge of 290 vehicles.
The town anticipates an increase in traffic on the road as the town addresses the risk of a slope failure along North Wolcott Road, downstream of the bridge. This poses structural risk to North Wolcott Road and may force the town to temporarily close that section of North Wolcott Road, leaving Gulf Road as the only connecting route for traffic traveling from Route 15 to North Wolcott Road.
Replacing the bridge represents an opportunity for improving public safety and flood resiliency. The
town is currently seeking funding opportunities to fund the Final Design Phase of this bridge replacement project.
For more information on the project, contact LCPC Regional & Natural Resources Planner, Meghan Rodier, at (802) 888-4548 ext. 103 or [email protected].
