ROYALTON — Starting Tuesday, the one-way underpass on Route 14 will be closed to all traffic near Vesper Road for approximately 16 days due to construction, the Vermont Agency of Transportation recently announced.

Motorists are being directed to a detour of about 11 miles that will take them from Route 14 onto Route 107 and Interstate 89 before returning to Route 14.

The Route 14 closure is expected to go into effect at 7 a.m. on Tuesday. If all goes according to plan, the road will reopen July 24, VTrans said in its latest construction update.

An engineering study completed in October 2021 recommended replacing the existing rail bridge, which was built in 1908.

“The existing bridge is low (12 feet, 1 inch) and narrow (one lane at a time) with a sharp turn and poor visibility,” VTrans engineer Chris Barker said in an email last week.

A VTrans fact sheet noted the bridge is in “poor condition with frequent vehicle impacts.”

Replacing the bridge is part of a $9.1 million improvement project started last year that also involves widening Route 14 at the underpass to two lanes and realigning the road to meet state design standards.

Since the road is located in a “high priority bicycle corridor,” 4-foot shoulders are being added in both directions, VTrans stated in a news release.

The new bridge will have a clearance of 14 feet, 6 inches, making it more than 3 feet higher than the existing structure. The width of the road under the bridge is expanding to 30 feet, an increase of 9 feet, which allows for two lanes instead of one.

While workers are putting the new bridge in place, the route for Amtrak’s passenger train, the Vermonter, will be altered for several days between Thursday and July 16.

The Vermonter normally operates daily between Washington, D.C., and St. Albans, Vt. Starting Thursday, the northbound Vermonter will stop service in New Haven, Conn. Service for the southbound will begin in New Haven.

More information about the schedule changes, which range from two to four days, can be found on Amtrak’s website.

The temporary road closure, less than a mile south of the junction of routes 14 and 107, is expected to impact local businesses to some degree.

Roma’s Butchery, located on Route 14 just north of the underpass, will close for two weeks, starting Wednesday. The shop is undergoing a renovation at the same time, an employee told the Valley News.

At the South Royalton Market on Friday, employee Jules Collins said she expects most businesses in downtown South Royalton to remain open.

“We get a large amount of foot traffic from surrounding towns, not just up above (where the road closure is),” Collins said.

Regardless of whether the road is open, people still need to shop, she said.

The construction project itself is scheduled for completion this fall.

Haley Clough can be reach ed at haley.r.clough@gmail.com.