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Vermont Local Roads highlights leadership academy, work‑zone safety grants and training reach
Summary
Todd Eaton told the Senate Transportation committee the Vermont Local Roads program runs a nine‑week leadership academy (one cohort of about 20 per year), offers continuing education and safety grants, and recorded roughly 1,700 participant attendances last year while reaching about 70% of Vermont towns.
Todd Eaton, manager of the Vermont Local Roads program, told the Senate Transportation committee on March 26 that the program runs a nine‑week leadership academy for highway supervisors, a Road Scholar certification track, and a suite of continuing‑education courses that together drew roughly 1,700 participant attendances last year.
“This program is a 9‑week program that… emphasizes what you might call soft skills as far as leadership and management for upcoming or existing highway supervisors,” Eaton said, adding that the leadership academy enrolls about 20 people per year and includes a capstone presentation designed to help road foremen communicate with select boards.
Eaton said Vermont Local Roads typically reaches about 70% of the state’s 256 towns in some form, though participation “waxes and wanes” with leadership turnover and outreach. He described partnerships with Vermont State University for the National Summer Transportation Institute and with the municipal general‑permit staff for ditching and drainage workshops tied to water‑quality requirements.
On safety, Eaton said the program funds two targeted grants for work‑zone safety—a sign‑package grant and a temporary traffic‑lighting grant. He cited Hartford as a recent recipient of temporary lighting that helped nighttime work. The program is starting a roadway‑resilience (called "roadway rigidity" in presentation) grant to assist towns in purchasing equipment and practices to make roads more resistant to weather impacts.
Committee members asked how many towns the program has reached historically and requested annual reports; Eaton said records go back to 1983 and that he can provide participation reports and the program’s recent annual data.
Why it matters: The program trains municipal crews and offers small grants that can improve local road safety and resilience. Committee members said they value capturing institutional knowledge as more experienced foremen retire.
Next steps: Eaton agreed to provide participation records and an annual report on program reach and outcomes.
