By RUSSELL JONES
All of the rain Vermont received early this month, coupled with the melting snowpack, has left some area towns looking at roads in need of repair — but at the end of the day, other years have been worse.
FEMA, along with Vermont Emergency Management, traveled around several counties last week, including Rutland County, to assess the damage to the area.
Of area towns, Proctor roads seem to have gotten the worst of the damage and the town is still working on damage estimates as well as repairing the roads.
Town Manager Stan Wilbur said East Street (Route 3) saw minor erosion around a culvert inlet, while on Williams Street a storm drain and part of the roadway were washed out. On East Street the road was closed for a short time, though a contractor got the road re-opened the same day. Wilbur said there was still some minor cleanup work to do there.
Wilbur said Olympus Road saw extensive damage because the culvert and the road washed out. The road is still closed, though contractors are working to get it reopened.
“I came to work for Proctor in September of 2011, the day after Irene hit,” Wilbur said. “Irene and the damage was worse than this storm,” he noted, but added “since Irene, Proctor has not received any significant storm damage until this last storm,” which makes it one of the worst storms for road damage in Proctor over the past eight years.
Brandon roads receive no significant damage
Brandon Town Manager David Atherton said that town roads received no damage from the spring flooding. Parts of Union Street and Pearl Street were underwater as well as Vermont Highway 73, but Atherton said that was not unusual for this time of year.
“There have been years where the water on those streets haven’t gone over, but this time of year, it happens,” he said. “Rt. 73 hasn’t gone over in some time, but (this year) there was no damage to the road.”
Atherton said that there were some minor washouts to some of the dirt roads, but the town highway department was able to gravel the roads and grade over them.
“There were minor things, but nothing we will have to file with the state or FEMA about,” Atherton said.
Pittsford roads mostly repaired
In Pittsford, two roads saw some minor damage caused from the spring flooding. Corn Hill Road, just south of the Pittsford-Proctor Country Club, sustained some damage from an overwhelmed culvert.
On the east side of town, Oxbow Road also received some minor damage.
“We estimate the total response costs at approximately $15,000,” said Town Manager John Haverstock. “Most of the repair work has already been done.”
Haverstock said that while this year was much less than what was caused by Irene, he felt it was the worst spring snowmelt and flooding in the past two or three years.
