South Burlington culvert repair to cause strong odor

The Vermont Agency of Transportation on July 28 and 29 will be using a technique to repair a culvert on Dorset Street in South Burlington that will cause a strong odor. The odor, which will smell like a very pungent epoxy or paint, does not pose a health risk.
The culvert repair involves placing a liner in a culvert below Dorset Street just south of Kennedy Drive, and then using steam to adhere and harden the liner to create a new culvert pipe within the old culvert pipe.
The resin used to harden the new liner contains a substance called styrene that causes the resin to polymerize or harden when heated. During the instillation process, people within about a half mile of the project will likely detect some styrene odors that some may find unpleasant.
VTrans has used this styrene process to repair culverts in other locations, but the South Burlington Dorset Street area is more densely populated than those locations so the agency is alerting the public in advance. While potentially unpleasant, the order is not harmful.
The culvert is located under Dorset Street just south of Kennedy Drive in the area where Dorset Street passes under Interstate 89. Although the project will take two days to complete, the odiferous styrene hardening process likely will take place on July 29 and last about eight hours.
Source: VTrans.