Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Infrastructure topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Town outlines culvert and road mitigation requests to FEMA after repeated flood damage
Summary
Richmond staff presented a list of culverts and road segments submitted to FEMA as mitigation targets following repeated flood failures, including Stage Road, Snipe Island, Jones Mill Road and the critically eroding Dougway Road.
Town highway staff told the Select Board May 19 that Richmond has submitted several high-priority highway projects to FEMA for mitigation funding following repeated flood damage.
Road foreman Pete Goslin summarized the packet of projects: upsizing culverts on Stage Road, Snipe Island Road and Jones Mill Road (which has significant siltation), replacing the century-old box culvert under Railroad Street, upsizing the Cemetery Road culvert, and addressing a rapidly expanding streambank failure on Dougway Road that staff called "critically" at risk of losing the road. "All of these locations have failed more than once in the last two years," Goslin said, and several require engineering cost estimates to proceed with FEMA review.
Town staff said Dougway Road has been under active mitigation discussion with FEMA for more than a year and that cost estimates have been submitted for some sites; other projects were newly added after the 2024 flood. The board heard that many of these crossings involve multiple landowners (including the railroad right-of-way on Railroad Street), which complicates design and permitting.
Town staff said they will work with engineers to finalize cost estimates and move items through FEMA's mitigation-review process; they also flagged the fiscal risk to the town if federal mitigation funding is delayed or unavailable.
