Damage at K

[SkiDork]

re: retaining walls...

Wouldn't _just_ building them where the damage occurred be a mistake? Won't they be required elsewhere?

[madhatter]

one would expect that in order to facilitate two way traffic some of those "gaps" on 4 will be temporarily bridged ( maybe with surplus bailey bridges?) Just speculating here, but as has been mentioned a permanent fix WILL require new engineering and lots and lots of fill and concrete. Same with 107 from bethel a whole lot of highway is now river. It will require a lot of engineering to replace that road with something permanent and less vulnerable. In addition the VAST trail system suffered around 7.5 million dollars in damage state wide, much of it requiring heavy equipment to repair. The snowmobiling crowd brings in 500 million annually in revenue and is the source of many folks livelihood. Leaf peeping, skiing and snowmobiling, while all recreational activities and seemingly unimportant in the grand scheme of things to the casual observer, are really quite critical to the states economy and the well being of many of its citizens. There is a lot to be done in a short amount of time.

[jimmywilson69]

re: retaining walls...

Wouldn't _just_ building them where the damage occurred be a mistake? Won't they be required elsewhere?

Any retaining wall will have to be built with steel piles driven into the befrock. The stream will be routed farther away from the roadway and they will reinforce the the area in between the stream and the roadway with large boulders most likely cement-grouting them in place.

The real key here is the restoring the stream so that it doesn't erode like this with lessor events. Most are saying this was a 100- to 500-year flood.

[Terrapin Station]

Important Message to Killington Visitors and Second Home Owners

http://www.mountaintimes.info/news/cool ... me-owners/

Despite our own reports, and those of national media, Killington Resort and your favorite destinations within the resort community are in no threat of not being open for Fall Foliage or the winter season. Word from that resort is that they could open much of the resort if they had 3 feet of compacted snow. They will definitely be ready for late October operations, when they get low temps and they will have access at higher elevations using the current walkway.

Hurricane Irene was what weathermen describe as a "water event", which confined damage to streams and to roads, and structures near streams.

There was flooding in the low lying areas and some loss of structures that were situated precariously in known flood plains... these are areas that often flood annually, but not quite to the extent of 2011. Very few commercial structures in low lying areas had flooding above the basement level.

Right now, we can report with confidence that we know of no businesses on the Killington Access Road who are not open, or not ready to open. Killington Resort could open for full mountain activities with the exception of some mountain bike trails tomorrow if the weather allowed.

Killington's favorite fall events, Brewfest, is definitely going to happen as long as Route 4 is open."Here's the details:
Killington Annual Brewfest, October 1.

The Killington Brewfest is a celebration of the Northeast's finest craft beers. Join us for a weekend packed with a beer sampling, tasting dinner, live music and more as we celebrate one of life's greatest gifts, beer!

Brewfest Weekend Dates:Friday, September 30 Vermont Brewmaster's Dinner 7:00-9:00 p.m.

Friday, September 30 Brewfest Kickoff Party 9:00 p.m.

Saturday, October 1 Killington Brewfest 1:00-6:00 p.m.

Vermont Brewmaster Dinner
Join us for a 3-course dinner at the Wobbly Barn as our Executive Chef pairs Vermont brews with culinary creations from local producers. Participating Vermont Breweries include Long Trail, Otter Creek, Switchback and Northshire.

Here's a link for all the details.
http://www.killington.com/summer/activi ... n_Brewfest

Spirits are high in Killington. "Yes" your friends and favorite entrepreneurs are having an uncomfortable time, and you'll have much to talk about when you get here.... almost all of it about the amazing sense of belonging that exists in your favorite destination in Vermont. We can't wait to greet you.

[Highway Star]

here is a vid of Irving gas station flooding I found http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74xtCI1iWTM

The real big challenge is Rte 4 in Mendon. The scope of that requires lots of engineering and huge earth moving. There is no easy quick fix. The design will almost certainly include some kind of retaining wall both to limit the amount of fill needed, and armor the river bank so it is not eroded again in the foreseeable future. Retaining walls of that size will take time, and it won't happen in winter or spring.

Well, Killington is going to have some serious problems this year if they don't have a half decent road up there. Weekend winter traffic on western route 4 is about 10k per day. Yearly revenue for the town is about $100M, and about 60% of that comes directly up route 4, through Rutland.

So, how much is worth for them to get the road repaired.....$1m? $2m? $5m?

[CAPBOY]

one would expect that in order to facilitate two way traffic some of those "gaps" on 4 will be temporarily bridged ( maybe with surplus bailey bridges?) Just

I'm not sure why a detour/Shift can't be made to the south. Would involve losing some trees and encroaching on the property (if its privte).

[Geoff]

one would expect that in order to facilitate two way traffic some of those "gaps" on 4 will be temporarily bridged ( maybe with surplus bailey bridges?) Just

I'm not sure why a detour/Shift can't be made to the south. Would involve losing some trees and encroaching on the property (if its privte).

None of this makes any sense. There are no bridges out on Route 4. This is a job for big yellow excavators, bulldozers & graders, steam rollers, and dump trucks hauling rock & gravel.

I'm now thinking Route 4 will be opened end-to-end with a hot top surface by October 1. There is _A LOT_ of equipment working on the road. There might not be a climbing lane in Mendon this winter but the road will be open and in pretty good shape.

[Dickc]

As Mad Hatter points out, Bailey Bridges can be used in many places. If you look em up on Google and take the wiki link, you will find they can be 2300 feet long which puts them well longer than most needs here. As far as Route 4, 7, 100, 107, etc. reconstruction, Make sure the Ottauquechee, East Creek, White River and others are moved back far enough toward their original path, use boulders for now to shore up the edge and rebuild the road bed. The chances of losing the road again this winter are small. Just GET THEM OPEN NOW. Vermont needs these main thoroughfares open to collect the tourist dollars. The money spent will come back 10 fold or more. Take soundings of the ground and plan to armor plate the river sides of these main roads. Replace washed out bridges with temporary bridges and later with structures that will withstand the next flood of this magnitude.


This is VERMONT! If any one in the US can figure it out and get it done, it is you guys!

I have traveled this area of Vermont for some 50 years since I was a kid. I have always loved the area and her people. I expect my next trip up NOT to disappoint!

[Geoff]

The real big challenge is Rte 4 in Mendon. The scope of that requires lots of engineering and huge earth moving. There is no easy quick fix.

They've already mostly diverted the river bed back to where it was and are trucking in rock to fill the road bed. I'll bet it looks like a road in 2 weeks or less and has hot top on it October 1.

[jimmywilson69]

one would expect that in order to facilitate two way traffic some of those "gaps" on 4 will be temporarily bridged ( maybe with surplus bailey bridges?) Just

I'm not sure why a detour/Shift can't be made to the south. Would involve losing some trees and encroaching on the property (if its privte).

None of this makes any sense. There are no bridges out on Route 4. This is a job for big yellow excavators, bulldozers & graders, steam rollers, and dump trucks hauling rock & gravel.

I'm now thinking Route 4 will be opened end-to-end with a hot top surface by October 1. There is _A LOT_ of equipment working on the road. There might not be a climbing lane in Mendon this winter but the road will be open and in pretty good shape.

I agree with Geoff on this. while there is no question that the erosion in Mendon or out towards Shortski' house is severe; convoy's of dump trucks with fill and bull dozers will repair that very quickly.

As a civil engineer who primarily works in the transportation industry, I feel they will repair and have these roads open for ski season for sure, and they will likely have them open for the end of leaf season (oct 1) as geoff said.

[ME2VTSkier]

The Maine Guard boys working away at Rt 107... and they've been told their deployment will probably last longer than the originally planned 15 days... possibly quite a bit longer.

[skidogg]

just to be picky, the modern day rollers say from 1930's or so have used internal combustion engines

None of this makes any sense. There are no bridges out on Route 4. This is a job for big yellow excavators, bulldozers & graders, steam rollers, and dump trucks hauling rock & gravel.

[Geoff]

just to be picky, the modern day rollers say from 1930's or so have used internal combustion engines

Sounds picky to me

In some parts of the world, road rollers are still known colloquially as steam rollers, regardless of their method of propulsion. This typically only applies to the largest examples (used for road-making).

[GeorgeS]

Killington's favorite fall events, Brewfest, is definitely going to happen as long as Route 4 is open.

That is what concerns me, I'm surprised no one else picked up on that one teeny-tiny caveat. There has been zero mentioned regarding a timeframe as to when that corridor of Rt 4 is going to be opened again to through traffic. None, nada, zip.

[winter]

Hi all, since 2004 when I believe this board was founded I have been coming here to get the latest buzz on what was happening on mountain, conditions, and general K-area info. I think that on the whole this is a very strong community here at K-Zone, and when I saw the damage reports on Sunday I was heartbroken. I was even more heartbroken when I saw the damage first hand as one of the producer's assigned to this story for NBC News. Our team in Vermont felt a strong purpose in not only showing the damage, but the struggle of the state's residents in traveling between points, and the human struggle of no water, power, etc. We also felt we had a duty to report the tremendous "VT Strong" spirit of rebuilding and helping each other out. That spirit we tried to show in this report. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/ns/nightly_news/

Another report we hope to show in the next few weeks is the tremendous rebuilding effort and more importantly the results of that effort which is certainly occurring. The progress made in just a few days was tremendous, there is a lot more to do, but I feel 100% confident I'll be making turns at K this year. If you have any or know of anyone who has a personal or business story of rebuilding and "coming back" please PM me, we would be interested in speaking with you/them.

One final note, a big thank you to the Town of Killington, Killington Police/Fire, and Killington Resort itself. Everyone in these entities was gracious, understanding of our desire to show what was going on and the recovery efforts, and was helpful with information that we could get on on how to help and what was being done to help those in the Killington area. Unsurprisingly, the restaurant owners, hotel owners, and people in the Killington community were also very gracious to us.

Tough times in the past few days for Vermont and Killington, I look forward to putting a report together showcasing the "better days" in the future. Thanks guys for the pictures and stories here...