CUMBERLAND, R.I. — The owner of a historic property in Cumberland, R.I., may have to foot the bill for a washed-out state road after the Rhode Island Department of Transportation found a “private, illegal drain” under the road.
Water has been pouring into Raymond Barry’s yard and basement at 304 Sneech Pond Rd. since Sept. 7, when a sinkhole opened up along the road, blocking a drainage pipe that has been in place longer than Barry, 66, has been alive.
Sneech Pond Road was once the village’s main street. It dead-ends at the utility bridge that spans the Pawtucket Reservoir, and a brook, fed by a kettle pond, winds through properties in the area and empties into the Abbots Run river watershed.