Culvert Reconstruction Should End Sakonnet Point Flooding

Sakonnet Point residents have dealt with years of flooding, but their hardship is about to come to an end. The state Department of Transportation (DOT) is reconstructing the culvert that connects the Sakonnet Harbor to the adjacent marsh.

Local residents and Sen. Louis P. DiPalma have worked for more than five years to replace a failed piping system that left homeowners on flooded property.

"The people that lived there would basically be trapped in their houses because the water would be so high," said DiPalma, who championed the DOT-funded restoration of the  project.

The state is covering the full cost of the $235,000 project to construct the culvert by Sakonnet Point. According to DOT spokesman Bryan Lucier, the project will be 80 percent funded by federal funds and 20 percent by state funds - the same funding formula used for most DOT projects in Rhode Island. 

"There will be no town contribution," said DiPalma. "We are exempt except for a lot of sweat equity to make sure it happened over the last few years. The entire council has been involved, particularly Gary Mataronas has been a champion of this."

Physical work at the site is slated to begin this week, said Lucier, adding that crews have been on site in Little Compton for planning purposes since the start of April. 

All construction on the culvert is expected to be completed by Memorial Day of 2013.