Town of Berlin

State Infrastructure Bank Program 

Fisher Road in Berlin is a main traffic artery from Montpelier to Barre, with Central Vermont Medical Center nearby. Daily commuters, patients and visitors to the hospital rely on the road to reach the care they need. 

The town has a nighttime population of about 3,000 people, but during the day 12,000 people rely on the community for work and more. 

When a circa 1980s metal-bottom culvert — in an antiquated 6-foot diameter — began to fail, Berlin officials knew they needed to act quickly to keep the road passable. In a short period of time, the culvert sank about two feet lower, making it unsafe for travel. Both ends were blocked off, meaning travel from Montpelier and Barre to the hospital was impossible via Fisher Road. 

Berlin, who is responsible for the road, would have to build a bridge. Enter VEDA. 

Working to avoid placing the large cost burden on taxpayers, Thomas Badowski, assistant town administrator, came across VEDA’s loan opportunities and the State Infrastructure Bank Program program was a great fit for the project, since it involved transportation and a major traffic artery. 

“The folks at VEDA were wonderful, they walked me through the process, visited the selectboard to discuss,” Badowski said. “Low and behold we were eligible.” 

He called the organization a “godsend” and remarked about the relatively quick process — especially considering the lengthy processes road issues can face. In fact, there were other potential funding options, but, given the urgency of the problem, there simply wasn’t time to pursue them. Also, Vtrans, the state’s transportation agency, was involved in the project and already had a close relationship with VEDA. 

About one year passed from culvert failure to re-opening the road, which Badowski said was “Pretty darn quick,” given the circumstances. 

Eun-Young Denny, the loan officer for Berlin’s project, was a delight to work with, Badowski said; given the unusual nature of the project needs, she was able to work with parties involved and help “grease the skids” to make sure things ran smoothly. 

Plus, Badowski said, everything about the process was new: “This happened in a pandemic; there was no sitting across the table from each other, we did it on Zoom.” 

“If it wasn’t for VEDA, we’d have a very different story right now.” 

~ Thomas Badowski