With road repair materials in demand, Vermont turns to local producers

Hinesburg was one of the hardest-hit Vermont towns in last week’s floods . Now, as it tries to repair washed-out roads, the Chittenden County municipality needs a lot of gravel very quickly.

Todd Odit, the town manager, said he thought public infrastructure repairs could amount to as much as $2 million in Hinesburg. “Some roads,” he said, still have “3-, 4-, or 5-foot deep washouts.”

Luckily, help isn’t far away. “We have…a gravel business right here in town,” Odit noted.

Hinesburg Sand and Gravel has been providing a large volume of materials — mostly road gravel — for emergency repairs to roads in Hinesburg, and nearby Huntington and Richmond, as well.

“They’ve taken a lot of material so far,” owner Tim Casey said of the towns’ repair teams. “They’re still not done.”

Casey said last week’s storm hit the Hinesburg area much harder than last year’s disaster , and he’s had a lot more to do in its aftermath.

Nonetheless, he’s not particularly worried. “I have plenty of inventory to be working with,” he said.

“It’s basically just production,” he added. “Making sure that we’re running long enough to keep all the products going.”

Across the state, there seems to be relatively little concern about finding material for road repairs, according to Ernie Patnoe, director of maintenance for the Vermont Agency of Transportation. “Not like it was last year,” he said, when there was widespread concern after the initial damage assessments.

Although this storm was severe, he estimated that last July’s damage was roughly 3-5 times greater.

Also, according to Patnoe, he’s confident that local leaders will rise to the challenge. “Throughout the state, people are very resourceful,” he said. “They’re going to find the material that they need.”

He added that his department doesn’t outsource its repairs. The state buys from the same local gravel and concrete suppliers as its towns.

Gov. Phil Scott, in recognition of the increased need, announced Saturday the suspension of a number of restrictions on gravel, rock and asphalt production relating to land use rules and air pollution control permits. These include regulations pertaining to noise, production hours, transportation and emissions.

Patnoe said Scott’s flexibility on these points would help Vermont in its time of need. “The infrastructure’s there,” he said of local production facilities. “There may have just been some limitations that were holding them back.”

Casey said others may well benefit from the waived rules, but it won’t change his approach. His family has owned the company for three generations — he’s dealt with this kind of thing before.

Casey remembers the floods in Huntington over a decade ago, when the town again leaned heavily on his store. “This happens once in a while,” he said calmly.

The access bridge to Casey’s gravel pit in Hinesburg was actually washed out by the storm, he said. “That made it hard,” he reflected. His phones have kept going dead, too. But in each instance, he has found a way.

This kind of partnership between towns and local producers is a critical part of Vermont’s emergency repair system, said Patnoe.

“I just can’t stress enough how lucky Vermont is to have the men and women that keep our infrastructure going,” he said.

Read the story on VTDigger here: With road repair materials in demand, Vermont turns to local producers .