A section of Grand Avenue West in Chatham will remain closed for a little longer than expected.

Crews have been working on a failed drainage culvert under the road right beside Courthouse Lane.

Vandals targeted some of the pumping equipment at the construction site earlier this week, saturating the ground.

“Somebody came in the night and sliced one of the hoses open with a knife or something, which then caused the pumping to pump (water) into the site,” drainage superintendent Brigan Barlow explains.  “It really just makes the project a lot more difficult and a lot less safe.”

Barlow says they still have at least three or four more weeks of work ahead.

“I mean, we’ve found a concrete abutment from an old bridge and some gas lines that weren’t located and different things like that that just continue to cause complications. Because there’s a lot of unknowns with this project, it’s really our best guess at this point in time.”

Barlow says they still haven’t been able to set a firm reopening date, and are asking drivers for continued patience as they try to get the road back together.