Franklin County
Snow plowing in
Fairfax, Vermont
Snow plowing in Fairfax covers rural driveways, village properties, farm lanes, and private road associations.
Local operating question
What is different about a Fairfax stop?
Fairfax includes village streets, farm roads, shared drives, and private access governed by town road and driveway standards. Measure shared-lane turnarounds and identify the authorized contact. Gravel technique, emergency width, and resident parking should be decided before the storm. Fairfax's long gravel approaches along Route 104 and Route 128 often do better with sand than salt, since gravel does not hold a salted surface the way pavement does and salt can simply wash into the shoulder with the next thaw. Farm lanes and private road associations should confirm in writing who represents the association for scope decisions, since a gravel road serving several households needs one authorized contact, not several conflicting ones.
How snow affects a Fairfax lot
Fairfax is measured at St Albans Radio: 79.9 inches of snow a year, 86 days of snow cover and 67 ice days.
The 67 ice days are the most of any town in this service area, so traction planning matters here more than depth.
I-89, VT 104, VT 104A and VT 128 cross town, with Buck Hill at about 939 feet.
Fairfax also borders Georgia and St. Albans Town, and a request near either line should say which town's road grid the driveway actually sits on, since the two plow contracts do not share a route.
What Fairfax properties look like
Milton, a town over, records less snow and fewer ice days, 59 against Fairfax's 67. Sand does more work than salt on these drives. Fairfax's plan counts 1,745 housing units in the 2015 ACS, 80% of them single-family, so most requests here are house drives, not commercial lots. Fairfax had 5,014 people in 2020, up from 4,285 in 2010. The Lamoille River crosses the south of town through Fairfax village and Fairfax Falls, so river-side drives sit lower and wetter than the hill lots to the north. Newer subdivisions add paved drives to a town that was mostly farms.
For a Fairfax drive, write down the gravel base, the grade and the road it meets. With 67 ice days a year, a sand zone at the steepest point matters more than a deeper trigger. Model the Fairfax lot in the snow-service planning range calculator.
| Condition | Near Fairfax | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Snowfall | 79.9 inches a year (St Albans Radio) | NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020 (nearest station) |
| New-snow days | 25.4 a year | Same source |
| Snow-cover days | 86 a year | Same source |
| Ice days | 67 a year | Same source |
| Numbered highways | I-89, VT 104, VT 104A and VT 128 | US Census Bureau TIGER/Line map data |
| Named rivers | Lamoille River, Mill River and Browns River | USGS National Hydrography Dataset |
| Lakes and ponds | Fairfax Falls Pond, Saint Albans Reservoir North, Saint Albans Reservoir and Silver Lake | USGS Geographic Names Information System |
| Named places | Sanderson Corner, North Fairfax, Huntsville and Fairfax Falls | Same source |
| Highest summit | Buck Hill, about 939 feet | USGS GNIS summit names; heights from the USGS 3D Elevation Program |
Parking bans and plowing rules in Fairfax
The state plows the numbered routes: VTrans says a Vermont plow route can take an average of an hour and a half to two hours. A private drive on VT 104 or VT 128 should be cleared after that bank, not before it.
Snow plowing near Fairfax
Planning also covers Essex, Essex Junction, Jericho, Underhill and Hinesburg, and the service-area directory lists every town.
Straight answers
Questions to settle before the snow flies
What should a Fairfax plan know about winter parking and plowing?
The state plows the numbered routes, and an average route takes an hour and a half to two hours. Confirm any town parking rule with the town.