[R]oad construction projects around the Manchester area are impacting traffic on two major southern Vermont routes, in some cases delaying drivers for hours.
The Vermont Agency of Transportation, or VTrans, is working on road reconstruction on state Route 30 between Winhall and Jamaica, including replacing a culvert and repaving the road, according to state construction engineer Jeremy Reed.
At the same time, there is a paving project on state Routes 11 and 30 that connects Manchester, Peru and Winhall.
While locals see a need to improve the conditions of the roads in the region, they’re frustrated by long wait times and concerned about the impact on local businesses and tourism to the area.
John Wiley, owner of the Wiley Inn in Peru, said sometimes there is only one lane on Route 11, and it can take 20 to 30 minutes for the traffic from one direction to clear out before drivers from the other direction can proceed. He said his customers have complained about the inconvenience.
“They were kind of horrified about waiting to get down to Manchester so long and then waiting for getting back up so long. People on vacation don’t want to be waiting in traffic for two hours a day,” Wiley said.
The construction has impacted the schedule at a day camp in Londonderry run by the Collaborative, an organization that supports substance-free youth, according to Maryann Morris, the organization’s executive director, who said a lot of parents work in Manchester and take Route 11 to drop off their kids.
On July 18, Morris said, many parents were two hours late to pick up their children because of the traffic issue. The staff for the day camp stayed with the kids, and another organization was using the school’s kitchen to serve dinner, so all the children could have a meal while they were waiting.
Natalie Boyle, public information consultant for the projects, said the traffic delay that day was caused by a communication breakdown among traffic controllers. VTrans sent an extra engineer to the site the next day to improve the traffic. According to Boyle, there have not been any complaints about wait times since.
Local businesses are feeling the impact of the two projects in other ways.
Jan-Ellen Kelley, owner of New Morning Natural Foods in Manchester, said she recently drove through construction on Route 30 to deliver a wedding cake to a client. The road was so bumpy that, despite driving slowly, the frosting on the cake was damaged and she needed to patch up the cake at the wedding.
Kelley said she is aware that the construction is necessary, But she expressed some frustration about the timing of the projects. “Do they have to do all of that all at the same time to the roads?”
One of her customers who often comes into the story during the summer said she wouldn’t be back in July and August because of how long it takes to drive there.
Gail Mann, a yoga instructor and resident of Londonderry, said, without construction, it takes between 15 and 17 minutes to drive from her place to Manchester. Now it could be 40 minutes, even up to an hour. While knowing the importance of repairing the roads, she said she doesn’t understand why VTrans is doing this work during a popular tourism season.
Mann said she heard tourists say they will go to Colorado next year, which is discouraging to the mountain towns.
“If Gov. Scott’s goal is to increase tourism revenue, something like this has an impact,” Mann said. “I don’t know why they can’t do the work at night.”
Boyle, the consultant for the projects, said nightwork can add expense to the project and can cause disruption to residents along the way.
“Daytime is a safer environment and tends to produce a better end product,” she said.
According to Boyle, 80% of the funding for the roadwork comes from the federal government. Vermont is investing $12 million in the Route 30 project and $7.6 million in the Route 11 project.
In general the construction season in Vermont is from April 15 to Dec. 1, according to Reed of VTrans. But paving is more sensitive to weather, so it typically is done between mid-May and mid-October.
The Route 30 project is set to be completed Oct. 16, and the repaving on Routes 11 and 30 are slated to finish by Nov. 12.
During the design phase of a project, VTrans tries to consider local needs and high tourist times, said Reed. But, he noted, the most critical tourism weekends of the year for areas around most Vermont ski mountains tend to be in the winter — not within the construction season. That is part of why construction is scheduled at this time of year.
Reed said it’s frequent for all construction projects to have the one-lane restriction when the crew members are working. According to the contracts, contractors should not hold up the traffic for more than 10 minutes. But sometimes, he said, unanticipated things happen and the wait time exceeds the limit.
Reed said it’s common for people to get frustrated about road construction, and a lot of times “they are totally justified.”
“We do understand that there are impacts to communities when we have a construction project, so we try to make that as least painful as possible,” he said.
VTrans started a significant road repair project on state Route 100 between Waterbury and Stowe last year, said Reed, and has received complaints about traffic delays. Crews are working at night, however, on roadwork.
Some local business owners in the area said the situation is better than last year.
Steven Brownlee, the owner of Umiak Outdoor Outfitters at Lower Village, said now the construction is happening north of his business and in Stowe Village. The traffic in the center of Stowe is slower and many parking spots are taken.
He said his commute to the store this year is not as disrupted by construction as it was last summer. When the construction was happening last year between Stowe and Waterbury, where the closest Interstate 89 exit is located, his business was impacted, he said.
But his employees are saying that they have spent more time on the road this year.
“A lot of the employees that are coming from the north trying to get into the store in the morning are spending an extra 20 minutes to arrive at work due to the construction,” he said.
Greg Evans, the owner of Lonely Goat, a bed and breakfast in Waterbury Center, said sometimes traffic backs up at the intersection of Routes 100 and 108, which is at the downtown of Stowe. But he didn’t wait for a long time to get through, and also, he knew the alternative way and not to travel during peak times.
