Detours and night work: Road work to expect in Chittenden County this summer
Spring ushers in warmer temperatures and sunny skies, and it also means road construction season is upon us.
Projects across Chittenden County will soon begin as workers prep to put fresh coats of asphalt on several highways and pave other roads for the first time. From Milton to Charlotte, work will start in the next month and go through the fall in some cases.
Some Vermont Agency of Transportation projects will have updates posted online regularly to keep nearby residents informed. Here are some of the biggest projects in Chittenden County this summer.
Burlington: Champlain Parkway, U.S. 2 and U.S. 7 repaving
Champlain Parkway: Crews will make significant progress on the parkway this summer, projected to finish the segment of new road between Home and Lakeside Avenue, including all of the intersections. Workers are also expected to repave Lakeside Avenue and upgrade the intersections between Lakeside and the newly built road and Lakeside and Pine Street to make them safer for pedestrians and bikers and begin to upgrade Pine Street to have better bike and pedestrian infrastructure.
U.S. 2 and U.S. 7 repaving: Work on these highways, locally known by other street names, were partially completed last summer. VTrans repaved Main Street from South Willard Street to East Avenue, all of Riverside Avenue and North and South Willard Street from Riverside Avenue to Main Street. They also completed repaving U.S. 7 in Winooski. The rest of South Willard and Shelburne Road up to the I-189 exit will be milled and repaved this summer as well as South and North Winooski Avenue. Milling will begin in early May, said Darren Connolly, a VTrans resident engineer, via email, and will take place at night from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m Sunday-Thursday.
Additional details Parts of the Champlain Parkway will be fully paved by the end of the year. What to expect.
Essex, Essex Junction and Colchester: Vermont 289 repaving, Crescent Connector and I-89 exit 16
Vermont 289 repaving: Much of Vermont 289, the highway that stretches between Vermont 117 and Vermont 2A, was repaved last summer. One mile of repaving is left on the east end of the highway and is scheduled to be completed at the end of May, according to VTrans.
The Crescent Connector: There will soon be a new way to get around the Five Corners area with a new connecting road between Maple Street and Park Street. Regina Mahoney, city manager of Essex Junction, said they are building the road not only for ease of travel around the city but also to provide more development opportunities in the city core. Railroad Street, which runs between Main Street and Maple Street, will also be improved. Work will begin in mid-May and go through the fall. VTrans expects most of the work to be done this season. Signage will indicate detours when work disrupts traffic.
I-89 exit 16: The first phase of work on I-89 exit 16 in Colchester will be completed this summer, according to the project website. Workers have already begun relocating utilities, replacing waterlines, removing ledges, as well as retaining wall and drainage work. The next phase of the project, which will begin in fall 2024, will be the creation of the diverging-diamond interchange, a new traffic design intended to create a safer, more efficient highway exit experience.
More: Work on the I-89 exit 16 in Colchester has begun. Here's a look at the timeline and end goal.
Richmond and Bolton: A new highway bridge and repaving of U.S. 2
Richmond bridge over I-89: A bridge constructed in 1964 over I-89 in Richmond will soon be replaced. Work will begin on a new bridge in Richmond in late May or early June, said Carolyn Cota, VTrans structures program manager, via email. By the end of the season, the two abutments and middle pier that will hold the bridge up are expected to be complete. Cars will be able to cross the old bridge as the new bridge is constructed next to it on the north side. There will be occasional alternating one-way traffic on the old bridge and daily single-lane closure except during rush hour and on weekends.
Repaving U.S. 2 between Richmond and Bolton: This repaving began last year and will continue this year, set to finish summer 2024. U.S. 2 will be repaved from around Paquette Full of Posies farm stand in Richmond to about halfway between Notch Road and the Bolton Access Road in Bolton, according to the VTrans project factsheet. This repaving will be more thorough than others because crews will remove not only the top layer of asphalt but also remove and replace the sublayer of concrete beneath the asphalt.
Charlotte, South Burlington and Milton: Repaving U.S. 7
Repaving U.S. 7 from Charlotte to South Burlington: Crews began repaving Shelburne Road, also called U.S. 7, last summer and will continue north starting May 7 at Marsett Road where they left off, said David Hosking, a VTrans resident engineer, via email. They will repave the road up to the I-189 exit in South Burlington, working nights from 7 p.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday-Thursday. Work will also include upgrading traffic signals at intersections along Shelburne Road. Repaving is expected to be completed by Oct. 23.
Repaving of U.S. 7 from Milton to Georgia: The repaving of U.S. 7 from Lake Road in Milton to the Georgia town line will be a quick project. Jim Cota, operations technician in Agency of Transportation Maintenance District 5, said the work is expected to begin at the start of May and end by May 13.
Contact Urban Change Reporter Lilly St. Angelo at lstangelo@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @lilly_st_ang.
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Vermont road work: Chittenden County road projects this summer
