By JEFF EPSTEIN
[email protected]
WINDSOR, Vt. — Ask anybody who has bounced along US Route 5 in Windsor north of the Price Chopper supermarket, and they will probably tell you what a rough ride it is. While certainly navigable, it is a highway that many residents have complained could use repaving.
Not everyone may understand, however, that the town does not maintain it. Route 5 is maintained by the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans). It also oversees maintenance of state roads in the area such as Route 44 and 44A.
Unfortunately, the state just doesn’t have the financial resources to undertake all the projects it would like in a timely manner, according VTrans’s Chad Allen, the director of the agency’s asset management and performance bureau.
“We have two-thirds of the money we need,” Allen said. “We’re not winning the war.”
As with many state programs, Vermont is carved up into geographic districts for purposes of transportation administration (towns near Windsor are in districts D-4 or D-5). Within a district, any one transportation project may have to compete with others for priority, and that prioritization is what determines what gets done when.
But VTrans is aware of the problem, he said, and is revamping its project management system to try to accomplish more and make prioritization as reasonable as possible.
Rather than operating only on a strict numerical formula, he said, the new system would ask, “Are we providing taxpayers with as much value as we can?”
VTrans has a few different frameworks for potential projects:
One is large-scale asset-driven or safety-driven projects, such as redesigning a whole intersection that suffers accidents due to bad geometry, for example.
Another is grant-driven projects. VTrans, in conjunction with other state agencies, offers grants that municipalities can apply for. The Better Connections program, for example, provides money for transportation improvement projects. Windsor got one of these grants in 2017 for its “Right Side of the Tracks” project, and Weathersfield just applied for one of these grants for Ascutney.
VTrans also looks at connected needs, such as traffic control needs on a road that needs repaving. Allen calls these “quick wins” — an awareness where VTrans can leverage its presence in an area. “What else is in that area?” is what planners ask, Allen said.
However, “we’re not going to be able to do that everywhere,” he cautioned.
Meanwhile, more specific needs on roads, such as unexpected damage, can be discovered by VTrans’s own spotters or can be transmitted by town officials. Even little things, such as a curve sign on Rt. 44 that was upside down for weeks, VTrans will attempt to get to as soon as possible, Allen said.
Going forward, VTrans plans to work with regional planning commission to align its new approach to prioritizing projects, including highway repairs.
That work is in progress, Allen said, but it could be six months or more until town and regional planners see any specific information.
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