VTrans and the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission are expected to be sharing proposals for consultants charged with revisiting the issue of the Route 17/100 intersection with the town of Waitsfield this spring.
The intersection was the subject of years of review and proposals almost two decades ago, that yielded no solution to what is considered to be a dangerous intersection that follows a bridge of dubious structural integrity and less than ideal alignment, per the previous reviews.
Waitsfield town administrator Annie Decker-Dell’Isola said that the town expects to hear from VTrans and the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission in the coming weeks about consultants and then the stakeholders would move to refine the scope of the intersection review.
“This is an effort that started last summer with the select board and the primary questions are what do we want to evaluate. This is not looking at what the solution will be. VTrans wants to hear from us about what are the primary issues we see here and what do we want to do when we proceed to the solutions phase,” the town administrator explained.
Decker-Dell’Isola said that in July 2022 the select board kicked off the intersection conversation by identifying the town’s top three concerns with that intersection – pedestrian safety, vehicular safety and stormwater management. She said that work on that intersection may or may not include work on the Route 17 bridge over the Mill Brook.
Decker-Dell’Isola said that the Route 100/17 intersection was selected as a "regionally driven" need, and not the other asset based system. VTrans is using both approaches to address projects eligible under this program), she said.
“My understanding is that after project refinement is complete, we'd enter more of a planning/design phase of the project along with the consultant, and then ultimately (hopefully) construction,” she added.
After working with the VTrans consultant on further clarifying the project, the town and consultant will begin community engagement before beginning preliminary engineering plans. The refinement process is slated to be completed by this July and the 2024 Governor’s Recommended Budget does include preliminary engineering funding for the project, which would lead to the design phase.
