This story by Liberty Darr was first published in The Citizen on March 26, 2026.
The Hinesburg Selectboard accepted a $1.2 million bid from Poulin Companies to repair two bridges on Beecher Hill Road that were devastated by flooding in 2024.
But when and how much money the Federal Emergency Management Agency will turn over to the town for the work is uncertain at this point, mostly due to the fight in Washington over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which has led to a nearly 40-day shutdown of the agency. FEMA falls under the purview of Homeland Security.
The Beecher Hill Road area was a spot in town heavily impacted by flooding in 2024 that closed nine roads in the overnight deluge. At one point, the rain gauge at the Town Garage, located on the road, read nearly 10 inches.
Culverts at the two bridges on the road were completely washed away. While the bridge closest to the town’s highway garage was able to be temporarily repaired, it still needs to be totally repaired, Odit said.
The bridge closer to Route 116, however, is completely unrepaired and still sits with a gaping chasm that Odit estimates is about 20 feet deep and 50 feet wide.
The town has attached a cost estimate of nearly $1.6 million for the two bridges and culvert. In November voters passed a bond to fund nearly $400,000 of that work, since FEMA granted an emergency declaration, and with that, would cover 75% of the funding.
The agency has already awarded the town about $40,000 for each location for engineering work.
There is a sense of urgency to get moving on construction, Odit said. Not only does the construction company need time to order to the concrete box culverts in time for install, but the bridge closest near the Town Garage is pretty but being held together right now by “bubble gum.”
“If something happened to the bridge that’s passable now, then we would have stuck people and we’d have a stuck highway department,” Odit said.
The bid amount for the construction work is within the realm of funding requested from the federal agency, and Odit isn’t necessarily worried about not getting it, but the town could run the risk of starting the project without the other 75% of funding in hand.
Additionally, Odit said there is an expectation from FEMA for the town to move the project forward regardless of the funding security, mostly because “their view is that if you don’t then it must not be that important.”
Odit told the selectboard he is planning to consult with the Vermont Bond Bank on whether the town could dip into the other $2.1 million that voters separately approved in November to add a second well to the town to help with the Beecher Hill project.
Odit is anticipating construction for the bridges to begin this summer.
“You do everything you’re supposed to do and it’s something that’s totally out of your control,” Odit said.
In the neighboring town of Charlotte, interim town administrator Carrie Johnson also informed the selectboard that due to the government shutdown they were waiting on a $160,000 reimbursement from the federal agency for similar road repairs related to the 2024 flooding.
“I was really hopeful that we would get paid this fiscal year for those funds,” Johnson said.
