Infrastructure

Aviation Director Nic Longo also took questions on F-35 noise, JetBlue service and more

Winooski business owners and city workers weigh in on their experiences with the Main Street Revitalization Project that began in Spring 2024

How trail management is impacted by severe weather

For the businesses that remain open, many said they’ve had to shift their operations to keep up with the disruptions. 

Reliance on on-site septic and well water signifies that a place “is frozen in amber, ain’t nothing gonna happen here again, it is what it is, nothing’s gonna change,” said Chris Campany, executive director of the Windham County Regional Planning Commission.

The biggest hurdle? Clearing passengers who board the train before they cross the border. 

The Clark Sawmill Dam collapsed during the flooding that hit Vermont in 2023, punctuating years of back-and-forths about its future. 

In May, the University of Vermont published research on a Monkton wildlife underpass that protects amphibians from vehicles. At the same time, a major crossing on Interstate-89 and Route 2 was retracted due to a lack of funding. 

But there are ways to improve those roads that reduce pollution and strengthen against floods. 

If any damage is incurred to the town’s culverts before the new fiscal year, Charlotte will be able to cover the costs out of pocket, the road commissioner said.

Construction on the project, which is being overseen by the Vermont Agency of Transportation, is set to start in late May and last until November.

It comes from the House Committee on Energy and Digital Infrastructure, newly formed this session in part to prioritize digital technology initiatives that had been overshadowed.

The buildings in question are the NOAA building in Barre, the HUD building in Burlington and the Natural Resources Conservation Service building in St. Johnsbury

A perfect storm — that’s how industry leaders describe the challenges Vermont developers face in 2025. 

Two House bills would bar service providers from deceptive business practices and require them to offer cheap broadband plans.

Voters in West Rutland on Town Meeting Day will decide whether to fund a $2.3 million upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant.

Munger Road in Fair Haven will once again be maintained as a class-four town road after town officials recently cracked a six-decade mystery.

Starting in 2027, builders will replace the floodgates with thicker, sturdier ones and swap out the bridge above the spillway.

Engineers’ recommendations revolve largely around the construction of two new bridges on Main Street across tributaries of the Winooski River.

“Our whole mission is trails that go somewhere,” one org director said. “The whole point is that you could use it to commute.” 

Deputy Mayor Thomas Renner emphasized three goals city leaders are looking at: affordability, multi-bedroom units and putting units up for sale.

The project is part of the Vermont Green Schools Initiative, a partnership between the Lake Champlain Sea Grant, state environmental conservation department and Greenprint Partners.

Data on sidewalk defects will help South Burlington officials make walking safer and more enjoyable.

The project aims to eventually provide New York City with 20% of its annual energy needs through hydropower. It’s pegged to cost some $6 billion.

More than 60 units are planned in total across the two towns. Both project planners say state brownfield grants have helped get the ball rolling.

Following an Act 250 investigation last year, the shipyard was issued an after-the-fact permit for construction.

Any Brattleboroean can benefit from MicroMoo2 but the influx of resettled refugees made the need even more urgent.

The public will get a chance to learn more about the project at an August public meeting.

As of mid-July, none of the property owners nor local officials had heard back from FEMA. A year after floods ripped through Vermont, they have been left in the lurch. 

The NEK org’s $1 million fundraising goal from last summer has gone up to $2.5 million.

The sound of rain during the press conference brought a sense of déjà vu as foreboding forecasts rolled in — and then delivered on their worst promise by flooding the town again.

The town-owned library in Hardwick is getting an expansion for more books, space for quiet reading and youth sections and events.

A land trust in Vermont has a program to help people of color make a down payment on their house.

Some business owners have mixed feelings.

The city’s long-delayed Main Street Revitalization project began last month.

The commission denied the project March 27 after seven months of deliberation.

The city is responsible for paying 5%, or $3.09 million (whichever is less) for project expenses.

Charlotte has debated the addition of sidewalks in its West Village for more than a decade.

‘It was a constant battle’ to keep JetBlue in the Green Mountain State — a conflict that started long before the airline pulled out in 2023.

The group is fundraising with donations and grant applications, but they still need town approval.

Winooski residents approved the project six years ago, and after a series of delays, construction is set to begin in two months.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Green Mountain Transit rides have been free.

Winooski residents want infrastructure improvements along Main Street to make crossing, walking and biking safer, according to local leaders working on a new walk-bike plan for the city.

The engineering firm that’s overseeing the upcoming replacement of the 95-year-old bridge connecting Burlington and Winooski held its first public meeting last week, inciting questions and feedback from anxious residents.

Construction on the walk-bike bridge known as the East-West Crossing in South Burlington is expected to start at the end of 2024.

Middlebury College has had to scramble for housing solutions for its expanding student population.

The 1950s-era Ho Hum Motel underwent nine months of reconstruction to open a doorway to permanent and affordable housing for those in need.

What looks like a new state-of-the-art shopping mall is actually the newly constructed home of Winooski schools. 

Lacking waste services, poor access to safe drinking water and frustration with the state’s composting requirement were highlighted as common concerns across the state in a report released late last month by state environmental officials.

New Hampshire homeowners struggling with financial pressures related to COVID-19 still have a chance to seek relief from money provided through the state’s Homeowner Assistance Fund. 

More than 50 years, a slew of roadblocks and $45 million later, the controversial Champlain Parkway is set to push forward along Burlington’s southern edge.

The state’s pandemic-era motel voucher program will continue for Winooskians and other Vermonters until April 2024. 

This legislative session’s major housing bill drew a lot of attention last month for its impacts on Act 250 reform and single-family zoning.

The library’s board and staff is embarking on a new strategic plan for the library — the first update in seven years.

Children across rural Vermont walk to school, but the city of Winooski poses a unique set of geographical challenges for students on foot.

South Burlington officials want to eliminate 60% of the city’s carbon footprint by 2030, and with transportation accounting for two-thirds of that figure, the city’s climate action plan finalized last October is pushing for more electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. 

Landlords would’ve had to register rental units in a statewide list under the original version of a bill moving through the Senate, but lawmakers backed away from the plan and now the bill would only commission a study of the idea.

Senate legislators are considering a bill that would end a policy that suspends driver’s licenses as a result of not paying civil traffic violations within 30 days.

Communities near proposed telecommunications facilities may get to have more involvement in the siting process through a bill in the House Committee on Energy and Environment.

Cyclists and pedestrians may soon have a safer time on Vermont roadways as state lawmakers look to improve access to certain highways by lowering speed limits and narrowing lanes to create more shoulder space.

The conflict between the desire to maintain open space and the need for more housing in Shelburne came to the forefront on Town Meeting Day when residents cast votes on whether the town should set aside funds to acquire and preserve more undeveloped land.

Construction in Hinesburg to extend sidewalks in the village area may finally be moving forward.