Governor Douglas Announces Record $120 Million Paving Season

More than 300 miles of road to be paved this summer and fall


Sheldon, Vt. – Governor Jim Douglas this morning announced that the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) will conduct a record amount of paving this construction season. VTrans will invest more than $100 million on paving this season for the first time in its history. Governor Douglas made the announcement in Sheldon, where VTrans is paving nearly 10 miles of Route 105 between Sheldon and Enosburg.
“I am proud of the increased investment we’ve made in our transportation infrastructure in recent years,” the Governor said. “This year’s paving budget is a great example of our commitment. VTrans’ paving expenditure for the 2010 construction season will total about $120 million – a record sum as no other paving season has ever topped $100 million.”
To put this season’s effort in perspective, last year VTrans’ paving program totaled $75 million as the agency resurfaced 142 miles. This year, the Agency’s investments will result in the resurfacing of more than 300 miles of road.
Due to the unusually mild winter, VTrans finished the year with a surplus in its winter maintenance budget. A large portion of that surplus, $2.6 million, will be redirected to paving so that more than $6 million can be used by the Agency’s nine Maintenance Districts to “level” more than 55 miles of roadway this spring and summer in the same spirit of the Agency’s very successful Operation Smooth Ride program of 2008. Unlike the Agency’s main paving program, which provides road surface treatments that can last up to 20 years, District leveling is designed to only provide a thin layer of surface treatment with an expected lifespan of three-to-five years.
As the Agency did in 2008 for Operation Smooth Ride, VTrans’ pavement management team joined forces with Maintenance District personnel to identify some of the worst roadways statewide that were not scheduled to receive a major repaving effort in the near future.
This team identified 55 miles of roadway in 40 different towns spread all over the state,” said VTrans Secretary David Dill. “These full-width pavement overlays will range in size from as long as 4.7 miles of Route 126 in Pownal to as short as six-tenths of a mile of Route 17 in Addison. On average, these Smooth Ride leveling efforts will cover just shy of two miles each.”
In 2003, the state had a paving budget of just $21.9 million. Since then, Governor Douglas and the Legislature steadily increased the paving program and with the help of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Vermont is able to dedicate $120 million to a single paving season.
The recent attention to pavement is beginning to show progress. In 2008, 36 percent of Vermont roads were listed in very poor condition. That percentage in 2009 fell to 34 percent. With $120 million expected to be spent this coming construction season, this percentage is expected to drop to somewhere close to 30 percent by the end of 2010.
“No where is this more prevalent than on our critical Interstate system,” Governor Douglas said. “This spring, summer and fall VTrans will resurface about 90 miles of Interstate. By the time the construction season is finished, we will have resurfaced 50 percent of Vermont’s entire Interstate highway system over the past five years.”
This emphasis on paving will continue. The new fiscal year 2011 Transportation Budget that was passed last week by both the Vermont House and Senate contains $93 million for paving. Some of this money will be put to work this construction season, but some is also targeted for next year. This continued commitment to the paving program means Vermont’s percentage of very poor roadways will continue to fall.