VTrans outlines storm damage, rail impacts and plan to relocate Berlin garage after repeated floods

MONTPELIER, Jan. 16 — Jeremy Reed, chief engineer for the Vermont Agency of Transportation, and other agency officials briefed the House Transportation Committee on flood damage from storms in 2023 and 2024, the status of emergency and permanent repair projects, and steps to build resiliency.

Reed said the July 2023 storm produced what the agency called the most widespread flood damage in recent years. On the Federal Highway Emergency Relief side, agency estimates for the July 10 event included 421 projects with a combined damage estimate of about $179,000,000, broken into 352 emergency repairs ($74,000,000) and 69 permanent repairs ($105,000,000). On the FEMA side, staff reported an estimated $61,693,264.34 in damages across 72 projects, including railroad, rail-trail and agency facility work.

“On day 1, we're just out there just plugging a hole in the dam, literally,” Dan DeLabore, who works with the FEMA public-assistance process, said of immediate response work. He explained that small sites are sometimes combined into a single FEMA project worksheet when they are geographically close.

Why it matters: the agency must coordinate multiple funding streams — FHWA emergency relief, FEMA public assistance and state funds — to repair roads, bridges, rail and agency facilities. The scale of damage affects the state capital program and the timeline for replacements and resilience upgrades.

Rail impacts and recovery

Agency testimony said Vermont has roughly 598 miles of active rail and that the state owns about 305 miles of that network; the Green Mountain Railroad corridor between Rutland and Rockingham was described as the most severely affected in 2023. Agency rail staff reported 225 damaged locations in 2023 (65 of those categorized as debris sites) and said about 41% of the state-owned rail network had some impact from that storm.

Todd Law, director of fleet, described damage to the central garage and adjacent facilities at the Agency of Transportation's 302 complex in Berlin. Floodwaters from Paine Brook pushed through a gate and inundated the central garage, BTRANS training center, a district office and storage buildings. Law said some outbuildings were demolished after being damaged and that electrical service damage at the central garage made repair at that location infeasible in the long term.

“We have to tear that down,” Law said of the damaged pole barn and storage buildings; he described a plan to remove the central-garage buildings, address contaminated soils, and relocate operations to a purchased higher-elevation property on Paine Turnpike in Berlin. Agency staff said they expect to seek FEMA funding for an alternate project to rebuild the garage at higher elevation, and that construction could begin in a few years if permits and funding align.

Storm chronology and costs

Agency slides provided a multi-event accounting: a December warm/wet event produced a modest set of repairs (FHWA estimate roughly $7,000,000); July 2024 storms produced an estimated 208 FHWA projects totaling about $49,000,000 (199 emergency repairs at ~$30,000,000 and nine permanent repairs at ~$19,000,000). On the rail side, the 2024 storms affected the Washington County Railroad corridor between White River Junction and Newport; agency staff said most 2024 rail damages were slope slides, ballast washouts and smaller culvert work that did not require long-term reconstruction.

Funding splits and resilience

Witnesses explained funding splits for different programs: FHWA emergency repairs on interstates and most state routes generally follow federal participation rules (for many state-highway repairs, an 80% federal / 20% state split was cited), while FEMA Public Assistance shares vary by disaster magnitude and county thresholds (PA starts at 75% federal, 25% state and the federal share can increase for larger disasters). Dan DeLabore said FEMA will consider upsizing culverts or other resiliency measures when presented with hydraulic analysis and justification.

Law and Reed highlighted that repairs made after past disasters (notably Hurricane Irene) have improved durability: several lawmakers and agency witnesses noted that structures rebuilt to current standards fared better in subsequent storms. Committee members asked about town-level outreach; agency staff said VTrans provides technical assistance, design standards and grant programs (for example, the Better Roads and municipal-bridge programs) and will continue to coordinate with towns through municipal-requested support and the state’s training programs.

Ending

Agency officials said they have prioritized reopening transportation corridors and that many emergency repairs are complete; dozens of longer-term permanent projects remain in design or are being programmed. Law said the agency purchased a higher-elevation property for the Berlin facility and is working on contamination remediation, permitting and FEMA alternate-project submissions. Officials asked lawmakers to note that timelines and reconstruction schedules depend on permitting and federal funding determinations.