ADDISON — Route 125 along Lake Champlain in Addison, which has been closed since a severe Halloween rainstorm washed out about 500 feet of the state highway, should reopen soon.

Workers were set to begin striping the road on Tuesday, May 31, weather permitting, and begin putting on the finishing touches next week, according to a construction update on the estimated $1.3 million road rebuild from Agency of Transportation spokesperson Stephanie Barrett.

“It is anticipated that guardrails are to be installed the week beginning June 6, 2022. After such time the roadway will be opened to motorists,” Barrett wrote in a May 27 email.

The stretch of road in Addison’s southwest corner that was destroyed is about a mile from the east end of the Lake Champlain Bridge and just north of McCuen Slang. The south end of the washout was right next to Whitney Creek Drive.

That piece of the highway had been sagging and failing already before the Oct. 31 storm, according to VTrans officials. The agency had reduced traffic to one lane in the summer of 2021, with traffic lights at either end of the one-lane stretch, and a project was already planned.

Since Oct. 31, VTrans has asked motorists who need to get from one side of the washout to the other, including those driving from New York to central or southern Addison County or beyond, or vice versa, to detour along Routes 17 and 22A through Addison Four Corners.

Many of those who know the local roads better or use wayfinding apps have, however, reportedly been taking a shortcut via town roads, using what is Jersey Street in Addison and turns into Basin Harbor Road as it heads south into Bridport. That route connects Routes 17 and 125 several miles west of Route 22A.

The project appears to be running a bit ahead of schedule. In February, VTrans put the tentative target completion date at June 24.