Bennington changes mind on bypass center access
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By PATRICK McARDLE Herald Staff - Published: January 14, 2009
BENNINGTON — After a presentation from the Vermont Agency of Transportation, the Select Board apparently dropped its opposition on Monday to design plans for the Bennington Bypass that include no direct access to the proposed welcome center for drivers traveling south on Route 7.
Vermont Agency of Transportation Communications Director John Zicconi and James Harris, who is the project manager for the bypass, spent more than an hour explaining to the Select Board why the ramp to access the proposed welcome center, which would be built in the middle of an interchange between routes 7 and 279, was cut out of earlier design plans.
Select Board Chairwoman Lodie Colvin received agreement from the rest of the board when she asked if a proposed follow-up meeting with representatives of the Federal Highway Administration and members of Vermont's congressional delegation were unnecessary.
"So we are in agreement, there's no need for a second meeting? We understand better and there's less emotion," she said.
The welcome center is intended to bring tourists into Bennington while the bypass is intended to bring traffic, especially large tractor-trailers, out of Bennington's downtown.
However, the current design for the northern bypass leg, which is under construction, does not have a ramp which would allow visitors from the south, such as tourists from Massachusetts and Connecticut, to reach the welcome center directly.
The Bennington Area Chamber of Commerce already maintains a welcome center on Route 7. No representative of the chamber attended Monday's meeting but Executive Director Joann Erenhouse said recently chamber records indicate many of the visitors who stop by the center are drivers who were coming from the south on Route 7.
Zicconi and Harris said the ramp had been eliminated from the plan because of costs, safety issues and concerns from the federal government, which is paying about 80 percent of the cost of the bypass construction.
Zicconi, who said he had been asked to attend the meeting by Agency of Transportation Secretary David Dill, said he got no satisfaction from having to tell the Select Board that the state couldn't meet their request.
"I'd love to come down here and say, 'You know, I don't know why we didn't think of that. Of course we can do that and we're going to get right on that tomorrow.' As you've seen by the drawings, we've done the engineering, taken some time and looked at it. I'd love nothing more than to come down here and say, 'Yes, we can do that.' It's just when you're looking at a $5 million expense on a temporary basis of which all would have to be state funds, it's just impractical," he said.
According to Zicconi and Harris, placing the ramp would mean replacing a bridge on Route 7 and adding retaining walls to protect a nearby wetland, which Harris said would cost an estimated $4 million to $5 million.
Harris said the bridge would have to be replaced to create a ramp that met highway safety standards.
The state is proposing that drivers going north on Route 7 would reach the welcome center by a signed detour down Northside Drive to Route 279. Harris said the ramp would allow drivers to reach the welcome center in 0.8 of a mile while the detour would take 2 miles to travel.
The Agency of Transportation also said a more direct access would be part of the proposed southern leg of the bypass although that's not expected to begin until at least 2014.
"(The federal government) won't look at a 1.2-mile detour on an interim basis as a main problem so even if we were to go forward … we would have to use all state money, because they absolutely would not fund something like that," Zicconi said.
Making a change to the bypass design at this stage could also mean a delay in construction, Zicconi warned.
While Rep. Joseph Krawczyk Jr., R-Bennington, who is also a Select Board member, offered no further objection to the current design of the bypass, he suggested the Select Board schedule a meeting with Harris and representatives of the Bennington Area Chamber of Commerce to explain the design and answer questions.
A call to Erenhouse on Tuesday was not immediately returned.
Contact Patrick McArdle at patrick.mcardle@rutlandherald.com.
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