Road Crews Are
Winter Weary
Staff Reports

Doug Armstrong of the Randolph Highway Department, frees a drain in what had been playfully called "Lake Randolph" at the town offices' municipal lot, as John Coffey looks on, Tuesday. (Herald / Bob Eddy)

The heavy and persistent snows of this winter have heaped more than nine feet of snow on Central Vermont, producing huge challenges for area road crews.

Towns contacted by The Herald this week reported higher-than-usual overtime costs, potential shortages of sand and salt, and equipment that is taking a beating.

And despite workers’ long hours and best efforts, many roads remain problematic, some caked with layers of lumpy ice and others developing impressive potholes and cracks, due to freeze-and-thaw cycles.

This week the weather was blessedly quieter, but cold temperatures following last week’s heavy rain and sleet created new problems, including clogged drains and inches-thick layers of ice on roads, parking lots, and sidewalks. A frozen drain transformed the parking lot by the Randolph Municipal Building into a minor lake, earlier this week.

"My big concern is fatigue on the men," said Randolph Public Works Director John Rotter Tuesday. "It’s beginning to take a toll on them. It’s hard to be working every day, and it’s not the best conditions to be working in."

The road crew is dealing with criticism from frustrated drivers and pedestrians, as well as with unending ice and snow, he noted.

Rotter said Randolph’s crew of eight had but one day off between Thanksgiving and New Year’s—that was Christmas Day—and haven’t fared much better in 2008.

The crew has worked at least two hours OT daily, working up to 17-18 hours when the big snows came.

Still, the town had budgeted for overtime hours, and OT costs so far this year are only $7000-$8000 more than last year at this point, Rotter said.

A bigger problem for the budget has been vehicle maintenance costs. A transmission failed on a truck that was due to be traded soon, he said, and there has been a slew of more minor repairs, including clutches, brakes, hydraulic pumps, and parts on sanders and plows.

Rotter said the town has enough sand, and enough in the budget to buy salt—but is being "rationed" by its salt supplier.

"They’re not making it fast enough," he said.

Rochester

Rochester’s Road Commissioner Danny McIntyre noted, "This winter has really put a strain on the town budget as far as overtime wages for the drivers, who have to work to keep the roads open. We’re really appreciative of all the late nights and early mornings that all of them put in."

Earlier this week, road crew part-timer Terry Severy had an accident, when the truck he was driving slid off the road and a large wrecker had to pull it out. Fortunately, Severy wasn’t injured and the truck is still operational.

"We’ve spent all of the sand budget, but still have some sand left," McIntyre noted. "We budget for about 2000-2500 yards of sand per year. We also have been dealing with a salt shortage and have gotten some salt from outside sources."

The 54 miles of town roads in Rochester, about a quarter of them paved, are cared for by a two-man road crew, plus an extra part-timer in the winter. Road foreman Jon Champion oversees daily operations.

"The biggest problem we have is people plowing berms of snow across the road, which are then caught by the plow and can damage it and cause injury to the driver," McIntyre said.

Hancock

In Hancock, elected Road Commissioner Ricky Andrews is in charge of summer road repairs and maintenance, while selectboard member Jim Leno oversees winter roads.

Leno said the town uses "very little salt most years, about one dump truck load, along with 2500 yards of sand. We’ve already used 1800-1900 yards of sand, which is way more than normal."

With no road crew of its own, the town of Hancock currently contracts with ECS Excavating and Landscaping from Rochester for plowing, and other services.

Leno reported that he felt ECS owner Charles Smith and his crew had done "a great job. We’ve been in pretty good shape, considering the weather we’ve had, and we’ve gotten more compliments than complaints."

Granville

Up the road in Granville, selectboard chair Norm Arseneault reported, "We’ve way overspent our sand budget this year, but the recent rain and thaw have really helped us with knocking the snowbanks down and getting a lot of the road surfaces back down to sand and gravel. We didn’t have any damage from the rain or melt that I know of."

Granville’s road foreman, Jim Dague, agreed, but added that the rain did clog a culvert on Puddle Dock Road, which had to be dealt with.

"It’s been intense this winter—no doubt about it!" Dague said, noting that although the town uses no salt at all ("it’s a toxin"), they do use plenty of sand, and had "gone through a typical year’s supply of that by mid-January."

Granville has no road crew of its own and contracts the work out to Harvey’s in Rochester, with Charlie Needham and Ricky Andrews driving the trucks.

Dague said, "I think they’ve done a great job! We’ve received almost no complaints and residents seem to be happy with the maintenance work they’ve done."

Braintree

Braintree Selectboard Chair Jocelyn Stohl noted that the town is going through its sand pile at a faster-than-usual clip.

The crew has already worked its way through to the "back end of the sand pile," something that hasn’t happen by the end of the season in the past three years.

So far, Braintree’s salt supplies are adequate, as the town only mixes in a small quantity of salt in with its sand, she said.

Budget-wise, "it’s going to be a challenge," Stohl added, especially if the next few months bring a "second winter," or the tail end of 2008 has heavy snows.

Like Randolph, Braintree crews were dealing with ice problems this week, notably frozen culverts that were sending icy overflow onto the roads.

Stohl, who is also a state police commander, at the Rocking ham barracks, noted that the entire state is on a salt-reduction status, and that drivers should correspondingly lower speeds and allot more time for travel.