WILMINGTON- Local officials are bracing for long waits and short tempers over the next several weekends as “leaf peeper” traffic backs up at a temporary three-way stop around a collapsed section of Route 9 West.

Mount Snow Valley Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Laura Sibilia says some visitors at the chamber office are already expressing their frustration with the traffic backup at certain times of the day at the bottleneck. “Particularly on the weekends,” Sibilia says, “people are saying they’re waiting15 or 20 minutes at the light.” Unfortunately, Sibilia notes, there’s no alternate route into town from the west.

The traffic backup has been compounded by impatient motorists who, frustrated with the short duration of the light’s green cycle, continue to pass through the intersection even after the light has turned red. Wilmington Town Manager Bob Rusten says the AOT has adjusted the timing of the cycle to allow more cars to pass through, but when traffic has gotten too snarled up, Wilmington police officers have stepped in to direct traffic. “We’re monitoring the traffic,” Rusten said, “but hopefully the changes in the light should ease traffic a bit.”

This weekend is not only the start of the busy foliage season, but it’s also the weekend of the Vermont Life Wine and Harvest Festival. AOT officials say they’ve agreed to contract the services of the Windham County Sheriff’s Department to provide traffic control at the intersection during peak traffic periods. Depending on the volume of traffic over the next two weekends, the AOT may extend police coverage.

Repair work is underway on the road, but AOT officials say the work won’t be completed until the beginning of November – but work has already fallen behind. Crews have been working to install a temporary steel barrier along the riverbank for the past week. The installation of the barrier was expected to take a week, but the ground under the river bed has proven so hard, workers have had a difficult time driving the individual sections in with standard equipment. On Tuesday, a larger “hammer” was brought in to speed things up. Even so, by Tuesday afternoon, only half of the 300-foot barrier was in place.

The steel barrier will shield the river from dirt and debris while the riverbank and road base are reconstructed.

The AOT closed the 500-foot section of the eastbound lane of Route 9 near the highway’s intersection with Haystack Road at the request of Wilmington officials, after a portion of the lane began to collapse in July. The collapse was in the same location where the road had been patched in the spring after it cracked and sank, leaving a noticeable dip in the road. Rusten said Wilmington officials were concerned about the possibility of the road giving way while it was in use.

Shortly after the road was closed, investigators with the AOT’s materials and research division began drilling a series of test holes to determine what was causing the ground to shift under the road. But when the crew began drilling, the ground underneath them became unstable and the riverbank collapsed, sliding into the river. According to AOT officials, the road collapsed about 30 seconds after they removed their equipment.

Vermont Agency of Transportation District One Project Manager Rob Faley says subsequent testing near the collapse, and at locations to the east, revealed that the ground is saturated with water along that section of Route 9. At one of the test holes, close to the intersection with Haystack Road, technicians hit ground water only eight inches below the surface.

Whether the soupy conditions under the road were caused by this summer’s almost constant rain or by a drainage problem in the surrounding land isn’t clear. “It’s hard to say,” Faley says. “It has been an extremely wet summer, but there has been an ongoing problem there.” Part of the repair planned by the AOT includes the installation of perforated drainpipe along the north side of Route 9. The pipe will drain into cement catch basins that will direct the water into pipes running under the road and into the river.

The base of the riverbank will be reconstructed with a layer of heavy rock. Once the metal barrier is in place, construction crews will excavate a channel where the riverbank meets the river. The channel will be filled with large rock, and the bank will be back-filled and lined with large rocks at the base, graduating to smaller rocks at the top of the bank. Finally, the road will be graded and repaved following its original course. “It’s still our hope to have it restored and both lanes open to traffic by the first week in November,” Faley says. “We’re a little behind right now, but we think it’s still a safe bet – as long as there are no unforeseen delays.”