This story by Chris Mays was published in the Brattleboro Reformer on March 4, 2018.
[B]RATTLEBORO — The town’s call for quicker safety improvements on Putney Road has not gone unheard, according to new correspondence from the Vermont Agency of Transportation.
“In spring of 2018, VTrans will proceed with re-striping narrower travel lanes on U.S. Route 5 [Putney Road] between Town Crier Drive and Spring Tree Road,” Jesse Devlin, program manager for highway safety and design at the agency, wrote in a letter that lays out several other short-term projects.
A serious pedestrian injury and increased activity associated with New England Center for Circus Art’s new facility on Town Crier Drive prompted brainstorming at a Town Traffic Safety Committee meeting last year. In December, Town Manager Peter Elwell sent a letter suggesting the state make safety-related upgrades along the road sooner than planned.
Major improvements are scheduled between 2024 and 2026, including four new roundabouts and new sidewalks.
In the letter, Elwell told VTrans Secretary Joe Flynn that the town’s Traffic Study Committee, the Select Board, staff members and citizens are “desperately worried that a pedestrian or bicyclist will be killed or seriously injured attempting to use” the road. Elwell urged the state to narrow both northbound and southbound travel lanes; shift the roadway alignment to the east as far as possible between the bridge and Town Crier Drive; paint white hash marks on the west side shoulder in the same area; install a guardrail to protect pedestrians using a narrow path in that vicinity and improve that path with a low-cost treatment such as hard-packed gravel; install crosswalks by Town Crier Drive; modify the striping and signalization to allow a dedicated “walk” cycle at the intersection by Hannaford Plaza and the Colonial Motel; and conduct a study to see whether any speed limits could be adjusted.
A response came last week. On Tuesday, it will be discussed by the Select Board.
“VTrans is investigating the use of alternative shoulder markings on U.S. Route 5 between Town Crier Drive and Spring Tree Road, which would be applied concurrently with the travel lane line striping,” Devlin wrote. “VTrans will proceed with adding material and performing grading of the existing gravel shoulder adjacent to the paved shoulder … to create a gravel shoulder that is more consistent in width and grade. VTrans will proceed in placing temporary delineation between the edge of gravel shoulder and the edge of paved shoulder … to provide better delineation between the edge of pavement and the edge of gravel shoulder.”
Once the previously mentioned projects are finished, the agency plans to “perform a vehicle speed study through the corridor” and “investigate the feasibility and potential locations for pedestrian crossings.”
“VTrans is currently investigating the feasibility and associated costs of improving pedestrian functionality at existing signalized intersections within the corridor,” Devlin wrote. “Note that this is a planning effort for future consideration.”
