SHARON — A more than 20-foot column of rock slid down from ledges on the eastern side of Interstate 89 northbound in Sharon on Tuesday afternoon, causing a minor crash and the brief closure of one travel lane, according to Vermont State Police.
A car, driven by 68-year-old Chelsea resident Brian Clark, hit some pieces of the rock, causing damage to the Acura’s driver’s side tire and bumper, the police news release said. Clark was not injured.
A towing company responded and removed the vehicle.
Ethan Thomas, a geologist for the Vermont Agency Of Transportation, said that rock slides this time of year are common, due to fluctuations in temperatures that cause water to seep into cracks in the rocks and then freeze, expanding the cracks and sometimes causing chunks of rock to break off.
For now, VTrans officials are “not anticipating any significant failures in the future here,” Thomas said.
The ditches in the area are sufficient to contain any future rock slides, he said. Even so, they will increase their monitoring of the ledge.
VTrans workers were on site on Tuesday and Wednesday to clean up debris, he said.