St. Albans Town officials want to take over a state-owned stretch of Route 36 between Lake Champlain and the border with St. Albans City, saying that local control of the highway through the town’s village will make it easier to plan new development.
The roughly three-mile stretch of highway, also called Lake Street, spans from Black Bridge along the shore of St. Albans Bay in the west to Adams Street in the east.
Language included in the latest version of the state’s annual transportation budget, H.736, allows the Agency of Transportation to negotiate “relinquishment” of the Route 36 span to St. Albans Town. Sen. Dick Mazza, D-Grand Isle, said he expects the measure to remain in the final bill as the town and state agree that it’s a good idea.
H.736 would give VTrans and the town until 2032 to come to an agreement, though Sen. Corey Parent, R-Franklin, said the process likely wouldn’t take that long.
Parent also is director of operations for St. Albans Town.
In addition to linking the town and city of St. Albans, Route 36 winds through the town’s state-designated village center, where officials broke ground last August on a new municipal building they hope will spur additional development in the area.
The town also has made improvements at nearby St. Albans Bay Town Park in recent years and plans to build more sidewalks in the area. In addition, officials are eyeing the site formerly occupied by the town public works department, which is next door to the municipal building along the lake, for new development.
“It’s a really important piece of land for the town,” Town Manager Carrie Johnson told members of the House Transportation Committee at a hearing last week.
Johnson noted in an interview that town officials are hiring a consultant to study the feasibility of building a municipal sewer system in the village center. Funding for the study will come from a grant and it should be completed early next year.
This wastewater system could serve several hundred properties in the area and allow the town to replace aging septic systems along the lakeshore, officials have said.
Johnson said St. Albans Town is willing to take on additional maintenance along Route 36 in exchange for greater flexibility to develop the village streetscape, such as by adding parking spaces and pedestrian infrastructure.
The three-mile span of highway is not contiguous with other roads under state jurisdiction. When it snows, state plows have to drive several miles out of their way, which is inefficient and can be redundant with the town’s services, she said.
Speaking on the floor of the Vermont House Friday, Rep. Barbara Murphy, R-Fairfax, noted that section of Route 36 is prone to flooding and she hoped St. Albans Town was prepared to take on the costs of maintaining it.
Johnson said the town’s maintenance costs likely would be offset by additional highway funding from the state following its relinquishment of the road, estimating the figure at about $13,000 per mile each year.
The town also could use funding from the stormwater utility fee it instituted last summer to support the costs of any new stormwater projects in the area, Johnson said.
“We will certainly address stormwater concerns before we agree to anything (with the state),” she said.
Johnson added that VTrans may be willing to make improvements to the Route 36 span before shifting it to the town. One of the town’s priorities, she said, would be to build out the infrastructure at the Route 36 intersection with Georgia Shore Road.
That intersection has multiple businesses and a boat dock nearby.
“It’s one of those intersections that kind of evolved over time,” Johnson said. “There’s no clear exit and entry into the gas station. The restaurant is the same way.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story used incorrect cardinal directions when describing the highway segment.
