NEWBURY—The P&H Truck Stop will likely undergo renovations to replace old equipment and improve safety for pedestrians and workers. The existing gas pumps and tanks will be replaced due to age, and new fueling stations will be added for a total of four diesel fueling stations and 12 unleaded gas fueling stations. In addition, the gas canopy will be moved away from the main building.
“It’s going to be much more convenient for the customers,” construction manager Matt Wamsganz said. “This will certainly help with the flow of everything there and keeping customers happier.”
Newbury’s Development Review Board approved the plans on July 1. According to Wamsganz, the project is currently waiting for state approval.
Wamsganz said that the new layout will be safer for pedestrians, as the gas canopy will be farther from the entrance to the building.
“We want to keep vehicles away from the front entrance of the building, which is a huge upgrade in safety compared to the way it is now,” Wamsganz said. “It’ll be safer than the old plan. That’s really all there is to it.”
The truck stop’s current layout has not been without incident. In 2017, P&H employee David Elder, of Ryegate, was cleaning a storage tank when he was struck and killed by a pickup truck pulling away from the gas pumps.
Chelsea resident Susan Elder, David’s sister, said that she had not seen the truck stop renovation plans, but that she hoped the fueling area would be safer, particularly for workers like her late brother.
“As long as they’re working with the state department of labor and workers’ safety to design it better, that seems like a choice in the right direction,” Susan said. “If they’re doing it just to increase profits and not pay attention to worker safety, then that’s not the right direction to go.”
The driver of the pickup truck, David Gilbo, of Newbury, was eventually charged with gross negligent motor vehicle operation. Nearly four years after the incident, however, the criminal case remains unresolved.
The case is currently in the Washington County Superior Court, but is being prosecuted by the Vermont Attorney General due to a conflict In Orange County.
When contacted for this article, Charity Clark, chief of staff to Vermont Attorney General T. J. Donovan, told the Journal Opinion that the state of Vermont is awaiting a trial date for Gilbo’s case and that as the case is pending, she could not comment.
Susan Elder said that she believed the delay was due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She expressed both hope and doubt that a trial would take place in the near future, and said that it would be difficult for her and her family to feel a sense of closure about her brother’s death as long as the case remains open.
“People don’t want to go into a courtroom right now, and I can’t blame them. I realize what I’m asking for is a luxury item,” Elder said. “I think that we’re doing well, but until there’s a resolution in the case, in a lot of respects, it’s hard for everyone to put it behind them,” Elder said.
At the time of the accident that killed David Elder, Champlain Oil, based in Burlington, owned the gas station. However, Champlain Oil and the gas station have since been sold to Global Montello, a company which operates out of Waltham, Massachusetts.
Wamsganz said that although he thought the renovations could prevent similar incidents in the future, he did not believe that they are taking place because of Elder’s death.
“I’m not aware whether Global even knows that incident even occurred,” Wamsganz said. “It’s under different ownership now, but certainly safety would factor into any of this.”
Neither Global Montello or Tony Cairns, who owned Champlain Oil before the company was sold, could be reached for comment.
