One lane of Route 2 in Hermon reopened about 4:45 p.m. Monday after it was closed most of the afternoon due to flooding from a beaver dam that gave way after heavy rain on Saturday, according to the Maine Department of Transportation.
An update posted on newengland511.org, a traffic information site, said that one lane of the road was open with traffic signals due to flooding.
The road was closed about 1:30 p.m. Monday and expected to reopen by 4:30 or 5 p.m. in time for the evening commute.
“A beaver dam near the railroad tracks let go and water covered three-quarters of the eastbound lane of the road heading toward Bangor,” said Steven Thebarge, a regional manager for the Department of Transportation. “It is a few hundred yards from a self-storage unit.”
He said that a business whose name he did not know that had boats stored on the property was most impacted. Some of them were floating in the flood waters Monday afternoon.
It could not immediately be determined who owns the business.
Traffic headed toward Bangor from Hermon was rerouted from Route 2 onto the Coldbrook Road to Interstate 95. Thebarge said commuters heading to Hermon could take I-95 south to the Coldbrook Road to Route 2, as an alternative to avoid the one-lane traffic.