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Residents, Officials Express Concerns About Plan to Close Route 7 during Culvert Projects

Posted: October 1, 2024

SHAFTSBURY - Officials and residents made clear their opposition to detouring traffic onto Route 7A during the replacement of two culverts on Route 7 planned for the summer of 2026.

About 25 people attended an informational meeting with project engineers Monday night at Shaftsbury Elementary School.

The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) is proposing to replace the existing culverts located at Sunderland Bridges #19-5 and #19-7 on U.S. 7 in Sunderland, approximately 1.1 miles and .5 miles south of the junction of U.S. 7 and Vermont Route 313.

Due to the age and condition of the existing culverts, engineering studies have recommended a full replacement with precast concrete box culverts. VTrans is currently in the preliminary design phase of these projects, which would have a 75-year design life.

VTrans originally presented the project in person at the Oct. 9, 2023, Sunderland Select Board meeting, because the Route 7 culverts are located in Sunderland.

At that time, the agency was saying it would need to completely shut down Route 7 and detour traffic onto Route 7A for two weeks for each project. Now, the plans call for one week of full closure per culvert, which will be constructed separately at different times.

Shaftsbury Select Board Chair Naomi Miller said she was grateful that VTrans is taking care of the road.

"But as I think you can hear, our serious concern is about pedestrian and vehicular traffic in the congested areas of town," she said. "And I just want to urge you to look into every possible measure to reduce the number of days even further that you have to detour these vehicles."

Unlike determining how far traffic would be backed up on Route 7 during one-lane traffic, there is no metric to compare it to delays the diverted traffic would create in town - "and then how much danger there is for all the through traffic (drivers) who are unfamiliar with the route and will be moving at high speeds and at a level of frustration with the detour that will make them unable to see clearly what's going on around them," Miller said.

"What's going to be going on around them is a very active small town with a narrow street going through a long stretch of road where there are a lot of businesses that have a lot of cars going in and out," Miller said.

There are businesses on 7A that already have cars going in and other at a rate that is dangerous. "If we increase that by over 8,000 vehicles a day, it's simply unimaginable, I think, for the people who really live and work in this town to imagine how it's going to be dealt with without there being loss of life," she said. Audience suggestions included paying for increased traffic enforcement in Shaftsbury during detour periods, lowering the speed limit on Route 7A during the project, coordinating with the town of Shaftsbury and emergency services to ensure proper communication and planning for the construction impacts, means of accelerating construction, changing the time of year of the projects, and evaluating the feasibility of maintaining one lane of traffic on Route 7 during construction as an alternative to full road closure.

More than one speaker suggested spending a day in Shaftsbury to see the traffic in town.

"There's a saying, ‘don't judge me until you walk a mile in my shoes,'" said resident Art Whitman. "Please send somebody down here and spend the day in Shaftsbury and see what the congestion there is in this town."

"This is why we're here," said Timothy Higginson, highway project engineer. "We want to hear your input to help define our plans, our approach, bring up potential issues for us to bring back and work through on the design side."

As presented, the VTrans plan would utilize alternating one-way traffic at the construction sites pre and post full closure, excluding weekends and peak periods. Full closure with an off-site detour would last seven days for each culvert.

Temporary traffic signals will be operated during full-closure periods at the following intersections: Route 7A and Route 313, Route 7A and VT Route 67, and Route 7A and Route 7 ramps.

Audience members expressed great skepticism about the wisdom of placing a traffic light at the intersection with Route 67 given the tricky traffic pattern already found in the vicinity.

The planners foresee no additional improvements required at detour intersections for vehicle turning movements.

The Route 7A detour distance between exits 2 and 3 on Route 7 would be 12.9 miles, adding 3.3 miles to the Route 7 through-distance between the exits of 9.6 miles.

Only a handful of questions from the audience dealt with the culverts themselves without reference to the traffic delay. One was whether other culverts on this area Route 7 needed to be replaced.

VTrans Project Design Manager Gary Laroche said he was not aware of any plans to do so, and reports on such structures could be found online.

VTrans plans to hold another public presentation on the projects in the fall of 2025 and provide updates in the meantime. To sign up for project updates or contact the project team, email Elaine Ezerins, public information consultant at elaine.ezerins@wsp.com.

Compliments of: The Bennington Banner
Posted/Author: Mark Rondeau

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