In September, an engineering study to assess the feasibility of a multi-use path linking Warren to Moretown along VT 100 will begin. A newly formed advisory committee for the proposed project will also start meeting next week.
Mad River Path (MRP) executive director Misha Golfman provided a project update to the Mad River Valley Planning District (MRVPD) Steering Committee at its August 15 meeting.
The engineering study will run for nine months, identifying the feasibility, cost, anticipated challenges and other elements of the proposed 10-mile path that would run from Warren Village to the intersection of VT 100-B and Hooper Lane in Moretown.
The path is proposed to link up with local trails, including the Mad River Path and the Mad River Riders trails, as well as statewide trail networks like the Velomont and Cross Vermont Trails.
According to the MRP website, the path would provide opportunities for recreation and non-motorized transportation “in a decisive action towards reducing the Mad River Valley’s carbon footprint.”
In April, the MRP, MRVPD and the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission (CVRPC) received an $84,000 grant from the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) for the scoping study, which requires a 20% local match. In June, the group hired the South Burlington-based engineering firm VHB to conduct the study.
When the scoping study concludes in May 2025, Golfman said that Valley towns will be eligible to apply for additional funding from VTrans – which come from the federal transportation budget – for costs associated with final project design and early construction.
According to the latest figures from VTrans, which are reported on the MRP website, a 10-foot-wide path is expected to cost $342 per foot, with the 10-mile-long path totaling about $18.5 million.
With the project still in an early planning phase, future funding sources are largely unknown. “At this point in the process, it’s not something we’ve begun to strategize,” MRVPD community planner Sam Robinson said.
The scoping study will also assess needed improvements to land that the path would traverse, determining how affected landowners would be compensated. According to the MRP website, recent research shows that living near trails and greenways can raise property values at an average of 3 to 5% – and sometimes as high as 15%.
Golfman said that about 230 landowners who have properties abutting the site of the proposed path will be notified about upcoming meetings of the project’s newly-formed advisory committee, so that landowners can ask questions and raise concerns.
The Corridor Advisory Committee will hold its first meeting on Wednesday, September 4, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Mad River Valley Chamber of Commerce welcome center in Waitsfield.
The committee was created in August and includes Warren Select Board member Devin Klein Corrigan, Bob Kogut from the Mad River Riders, Kristine Kinney from the Federal Transportation Administration, Moretown Select Board member Don Wexler and local state representative Dara Torre.
Another group called the Corridor Study Committee was formed earlier this spring.
The idea for the multi-use path grew out of a 2016 initiative led by the MRVPD called the Mad River Valley Moves Active Transportation Plan – with the goal of creating a vision for recreational trails and non-motorized transportation across The Valley. Consultants surveyed members of the public, who said they felt unsafe biking on Route 100 and wanted to see a path on The Valley floor that connected to trail networks, according to Robinson.
Regarding the uses of the potential path for non-motorized transportation purposes, “I do think people would use it outside of recreation,” Robinson said.
Golfman and the MRP got heavily involved in planning for the project last year, garnering support from local select boards, planning commissions, conservation commissions, landowners and others.
According to the MRP website, a major section of the path could be constructed by 2027.
