Kingdom Trails wants public comments on a draft study that recommends a new welcome center, expanded parking and more pedestrian routes in Burke.
The Burlington consulting firm SE Group made the recommendations. Kingdom Trails representatives presented the study results to Burke officials last Monday.
The study aims to address traffic congestion and safety hazards in East Burke as more and more mountain bikers have flocked to Kingdom Trails. Residents can take a survey online to comment on the proposals.
“We absolutely recognize that we were feeling some pressures from the amount of trail users that were visiting, and those pressures were causing concerns (for) the small, rural village infrastructure,” said Abby Long, the trail network’s executive director.
Most of the problems are in the East Burke village area. Three roads converge near the village center and driver visibility is poor, said Burke Selectboard member Joe Allard.
“They didn’t really have a good parking area where their center is right now,” Allard said of Kingdom Trails. That led visitors to park along roads and in store parking lots.
The popularity of the trail network contributed to landowners barring bikers on their properties in late 2019.
Kingdom Trails, officially the Kingdom Trail Association, partnered with the Burke Area Chamber of Commerce to fund the study with a $75,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The trail group added $25,000 itself to pay for the total cost of the report, Long said.
Kingdom Trails’ system has the capacity to accommodate about 1,900 visitors per day on the trails and 1,600 visitors in its parking spots, according to the study. Both figures are on the extreme end, representing busy days.
“Having trail capacity above the parking and access capacity is desirable — people accept a crowded parking experience when the trails continue to provide a free-flowing experience,” according to the study.
But the capacity figures assume that trail riders are well-distributed across the network and the parking spaces, which isn’t necessarily the case.
“Many users are concentrated on the most popular trails and many parking spaces at Burke Mountain or elsewhere in the system are not well utilized,” according to the study. “This leads to crowding at key pinch points such as the village or on the trails of South Darling Hill.”
The study noted two “key disparities,” namely surplus parking around Burke Mountain and a lack of parking access in the South Darling Hill area. Burke Mountain is disconnected from the rest of the trail system.
The report recommends creating more trail mileage or parking spots for areas that need it and finding ways to encourage guests to visit more areas of the trail system, rather than overcrowd popular trails.
Among the study’s main recommendations is a proposal to build a new welcome center in East Burke village. The current center sits by the intersection of East Darling Hill Road, Burke Hollow Road and Route 114.
The new center would be on Kingdom Trails land set back from Route 144 to the north, behind the East Burke Congregational Church. The site would include parking for more than 100 cars and direct access to Route 114. It could be set back from the road to avoid interrupting the “current feeling” of the village, the authors of the study say.
The new center would also not require visitors to cross the state highway to reach the trail system.
The study recommends building a new pedestrian bridge to avoid the tricky three-way intersection, along with multi-use paths that would connect the bridge with a new crosswalk and the new welcome center.
The study also recommends increased parking on Darling Hill Road south of the Wildflower Inn.
To decrease trail demand in Burke, the study recommends Kingdom Trails pursue building 10 to 15 miles of trails in Lyndon.
The study suggests Kingdom Trails roll out vans that could offer the same services found at the welcome center to further tamp down traffic congestion.
Allard, the selectboard member, praised the effort.
“They did a pretty good study here, and they addressed pretty much every problem I can think of,” he said.
Allard would have liked the new center to be located farther back from the village center than proposed, but says the suggested site will alleviate congestion.
“I think they are really serious about being a community-friendly organization,” he said of the trail network. “They’ve grown so much. In the beginning, we didn’t have a lot of the problems we have now.”
Long, the trail group’s director, said she hopes the community will respond to a survey evaluating the recommendations. Some of the ideas could be implemented in the summer, while others would have long-term timelines.
“There has to be a balance,” Long said. “We want Kingdom Trails to have an impact but only in a positive way. We dont want it to be beyond its capacity, really. And that’s what these engineers were able to look at.”
The group plans to seek grant money to fund the projects.
