As rains get heavier with climate change, better stormwater drainage needed to prevent road washouts

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 9, 2021

The issue of outdated culverts — a tunnel or open drain that carries water under a roadway — in Maine has come under greater scrutiny in recent years both because of increasingly heavier rainstorms and their impact on fish populations. As a result, conservation groups, municipalities and state agencies in Maine are focusing more on upgrading how rainwater is channeled under roadways as a way to mitigate the effects of climate change. But it’s not just road washouts they are concerned with. Sarah Haggerty, a conservation biologist for Maine Audubon who leads the organization’s Stream Smart program, said roadside flooding caused by constricted or blocked culverts can cause environmental damage even when a road stays fully intact.