By Curt Peterson
The Hartland Select Board has to make an important decision before the deadline to publish the Town Report and the articles for Town Meeting in March 2025.
The first rough estimate to rebuild Quechee Road, a major route from Hartland Three Corners to Quechee, was $6.5 million. An engineering report from Pathways Consulting, LLC, of Lebanon, rated sections of the troubled road by how urgently they needed repairs or rebuilding.
Drivers on Quechee Road know the potholes, broken pavement, and sinking edges are, at best, annoying, and at worst, dangerous. Particularly when there is snow and/or ice adding to the challenge.
The posted speed limit is 35 mph on most of the road, but much of it requires a slower pace.
The Pathways report identified “good” sections that require only “overlayment” of pavement, and sections that need actual major reconstruction.
At the Dec. 2 meeting Scott Williams of Pathways clarified several parts of the report for the selectmen.
“Good sections may deteriorate over time, but are holding up well since their recent overlayment,” Williams said, adding what is underneath those sections is unknown, so there’s no predictiong their longevity.
There are, he said, 3,000 to 3,500 feet of Quechee Road that suffer badly from drainage, slope and ditching issues, partly because ledge comes right up to the edge of the road and creates “ponding” damage during rain events.
Williams warned that attempts to save money by trying preservation by overlaying the bad parts (again) will only buy time. The town will face the same problem down the road.
“It will be better to do a full fix on the worst sections now, and the road will require less investment over the long term,” he said.
The “full fix” means ditching work and culvert clearing on the entire road, he said. Adding 18 inches of crushed stone in “bad sections” will bring the road up to Vermont local highway standards.
Town Manager John Broker-Campbell said $4 million would cover the 3.2 miles of Quechee Road that need reconstruction. With a population of about 3,500, $4 million amounts to $1,171 investment by every man, woman and child in Hartland.
Broker-Campbell said he thought the Hartland road crew could do the ditching and culvert unclogging.
Selectman Trip Tancredi suggested raising the ledge side of the road edge would allow making a drainage swale with crushed stone in the difficult areas.
The Select Board is under pressure to decide on strategy choices, to determine an accurate estimate of cost for the chosen plan, and create an article to warn for voting at Town Meeting.
“I think the deadline’s in early January,” Select Board Chair Phil Hobbie told the Mountain Times. “Every decision we make will be in comparison with the original $6.5 million estimate, which the town cannot afford.”
Hobbie said he is unaware of any available grants Hartland might use to finance the Quechee Road project.
At the next Select Board meeting on Dec. 16, Broker-Campbell will be presenting a report identifying the estimated cost of each option.
“There’s no money in the budget for this project. We have 65 miles of back roads we have to take care of. A bond will be the obvious way we’ll have to go,” Hobbie added.
For more information, visit: hartland.govoffice.com.
