STATUTORY REFERENCE/OTHER AUTHORITY: 19 V.S.A. § 309

APPROVAL DATE: June 13, 2011

APPROVED BY: Brian R. Searles, Secretary of Transportation

PURPOSE/COMMENT: To establish Agency of Transportation Policy on Disaster Management Response and Recovery

POLICY STATEMENT:

RESPONSE

The policy of the Operations Division of the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) is to provide assistance during disasters, floods, or severe storms.  The scope of this assistance is defined by the need to deal with conditions that directly threaten life, safety, or public property, with or without a declaration of disaster by the Governor.  District Transportation Administrators (DTAs), or designees, are to manage Agency forces, as needed, to preserve life, safety, and public property.  Such activities may include, but are not limited to, opening public highways to establish emergency access, reach stranded people, or to allow utility crews to reach and clear downed power lines, and diverting water to safeguard threatened highways and structures.

Disaster assistance is not limited to State infrastructure, but includes town highways and publicly owned property, so long as any work done is to preserve life, safety, or public property, and is done in coordination with and at the request of appropriate town officials.

In managing forces to preserve life, safety, and public property, the DTA, or designee, is authorized to use whatever level of effort is required, including 24/7 staffing.

Once any direct threat to life, safety, or public property has been eliminated, the DTA, or designee, will manage state resources to re-establish two-way traffic flow on State infrastructure as soon as possible.  The DTA, or designee, will exercise discretion when authorizing crews to work outside of normal working hours, but will not authorize 24/7 work efforts.

The "response" phase ends when the direct threat has subsided, temporary basic infrastructure functions have been restored, and the transition to "recovery" activities has begun.

RECOVERY

Recovery activities must comply with all applicable VTrans policies, procedures, and standards, as well as other Federal and State Regulatory Requirements.

Prior to any work being performed under the recovery phase, the DTA, or designee, must make contact with the VTrans Program Development Regional Environmental Specialist and applicable regulatory agencies (ANR, COE, other), to advise them of the emergency stats of the activities planned and/or underway and to discuss the need for permits or clearances for this work.

Work conducted during the recovery phase should generally be scheduled during normal working hours only.  However, the DTA, or designee, shall have the authority to authorize crews to work outside normal hours if such work can be shown to be financially beneficial to the State.  Recovery activities may include, but are not limited to, roadway and culvert reconstruction, paving, stream bank reconstruction and stabilization, and bridge repair or rehabilitation.

Responsibility to town, when committing state resources, ends when the "recovery" phase begins.  Technical advice may still be provided, if requested by the town and available from the district.  Districts shall have the option of assisting any town with clean-up (or any other work) on a reimbursable basis; however, priority should be given to district work priorities and consideration should be given to time and resource availability.

During the recovery phase, towns are responsible for obtaining permits, from regulatory agencies and comply with all applicable town highway codes and standards.  Some exceptions to "clean-up" activities may apply, where the Governor has formally declared an emergency for a specific town or geographic area.  Those exceptions will be authorized by either the Governor or Secretary of Transportation and may require districts to assist town without reimbursement.