After lobbying on the part of local officials and cycling advocates, the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) backed down on its plan to shrink the shoulders on Route 100 in The Valley from four to three feet when that road is rebuilt late next year.
In December, local towns and other organizations learned that the VTrans plans for repaving the section of Route 100 from Waitsfield to Warren no longer included uniform four-foot shoulders for cyclists.
The state’s plan to repave Route 100 from Waitsfield to Warren is several years behind and that section of Route 100 is crumbling. Road work and flooding due to Irene worsened the condition of the road.
In 2009, during the planning phases for the project, Waitsfield officials and other local cyclist advocates met with VTrans planners and advocated for five-foot bike lanes to be included in the project. After several public meetings, town and state officials and VTrans reps agreed on uniform four-foot bike shoulders where possible.
Waitsfield and Warren received VTrans’ final plans for the repaving project last year and were asked to comment. The plans then showed a three-foot shoulder on Route 100 between Waitsfield and Warren with some sections narrowed by guardrails to two and one-half feet.
VTrans agreed to meet with the Mad River Valley Planning District and local officials and advocates on January 19 but then canceled the meeting. Last week on January 27, Waitsfield and Warren officials along with Joshua Schwartz from the planning district and Steve Gladczuk from the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission met with VTrans engineer Mike Fowler and others in Montpelier.
The VTrans consultant revisited the published plans and by applying alternative standards found a way to include a uniform four-foot paved shoulder on Route 100 from Waitsfield to the Warren/Granville town line, excluding bridges. Bridges are being repaired and resurfaced according to a schedule by a different department of VTrans. Local officials expect a revised set of plans to be published for review in a month.
The project is a full-depth reclamation of the roadway versus a reconstruction. It is expected to cost $800,000 per mile and must go through a variety of review processes which will begin in the spring. The project is expected to go out to bid for construction in late summer and work will continue into 2013.
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