AUGUSTA — The city has reopened a roughly 2-mile stretch of Church Hill Road after repairs to a collapsed section were completed ahead of schedule.

Gravel under the pavement had been washed out, causing the surface of the road that connects Augusta and Vassalboro to buckle and break open, according to the Augusta Public Works Department.

The sinkhole was one of the latest to emerge after last week’s destructive storm. Municipal and state officials are still assessing damage across hard-hit Kennebec, Oxford and Franklin counties, and it could take weeks of effort and millions of dollars to repair infrastructure across the region.

The damaged area of Church Hill Road was near a culvert by the intersection with Stevens Road.

A contractor began repairing the culvert Thursday, and city officials had expected the road to reopen “for the evening commute on Friday.”

“The contractor will be back to place pavement next week which will require one-way alternating traffic while that work is completed,” the city’s public works department wrote on Facebook Thursday morning.

Then, several hours later, the department posted a photo of the road patched up and repaved, with the culvert fixed.

“The road has been reopened,” said the post, made just after 4 p.m.

While the road was unsafe to travel on, traffic was being detoured from Stevens Road to Riverside Drive, which is also Route 201, and Hannaford Hill Road.

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