To The Editor:
The July 10 issue of The Valley Reporter contained an article informing us of a $3.5 million contract to repave Route 100 from Waitsfield to Moretown Village and further north on 100B to a point where it meets a section that had been repaved about two years ago.
The article did not include any information as to whether the road would be widened to provide adequate and safe bicycle lanes which are sorely needed along that section of Route 100B and on Route 100 to Waitsfield Village. Anybody who bikes on this section of road is risking their life. Approximately seven to eight years ago, Route 100 was rebuilt from Waitsfield Village to North Fayston Road. We failed then to have the road widened. Let us not fail again. Let us win.
Widening this section of Route 100 would provide a much safer bicycle travel corridor from Route 2 in Middlesex all the way to Warren Village and points south. It would be one of the longer and safest bicycle travel routes in the state. Locals and visitors to our beautiful Mad River Valley would be very likely to spend some money for food and water in the middle and certainly at both ends of their trip.
Lixie Fortna, a former state representative from Warren, many years ago successfully introduced and had a bill passed requiring VTrans to build lanes for bicycle travel whenever state highways were to be rebuilt. VTrans, over the years, successfully watered down the bill, partly for cost considerations over the ensuring years. We should be marching to honor her memory and request that the Legislature restore that legislation.
Dennis Bache
Moretown
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