DUMMERSTON — Grant funding from the Agency of Transportation has arrived, and more is on its way. This money will help pay for work the town has already completed on problem areas and to repair storm-related damage from the early summer.
At the Dec. 20 Selectboard meeting, Road Foreman Lee Chamberlin announced the arrival of $40,000 from the state for repairs the town made to Wickopee Hill Road.
The town is responsible for a 20 percent match, Chamberlin said, but “no money, just in labor and equipment.”
The road - part of which runs along Stickney Brook - had long caused headaches for travelers and the road crew, especially in the winter. “We'd have to go over and peel up ice all winter long,” Chamberlin told The Commons.
The work on Wickopee Hill removed some trees, stabilized a steep bank, and improved drainage.
“That's a very steep road and keeping water from running across the road (especially in the winter) will make it safer,” Selectboard Chair Zeke Goodband told The Commons.
After flooding from June's violent storms damaged 20 of Dummerston's roads, the AOT reimbursed the town $18,000 in emergency grants for work it completed to repair the wash-outs.
Chamberlin also applied for a Better Back Roads grant for Bunker Road, “from Mrs. Bunker's, downhill to Salmon Brook,” he said. This will cover costs to install stone-lined ditching and new culverts, he told the Selectboard.
Chamberlin told The Commons he hopes to receive notice from the AOT at the end of December or the beginning of January on whether the town will receive this money.