COLCHESTER — Jordan McCallister moved into town barely a month before a crash on Route 2 shook the house last year.
“It was early morning, and we were getting ready, and we heard the metal kind of crunching, and I didn’t think much of it at first,” he said, thinking perhaps it was a trash pickup.
Then he saw the three-car wreck and called 911.
Debra Warner, 64, and her dog Piper died in that crash on June 22, 2022, while turning onto Route 2 from Clay Point Road.
Colchester resident Luba Routsong still chokes up when she talks about her friend.
“Debbie’s death was preventable in my mind,” said Routsong, who approached the Selectboard after Warner’s death to convey her concerns about the intersection.
A monthslong process that involved discussions among state and local officials as well as multiple studies of Route 2 ensued, but in Routsong’s view, it didn’t solve the problem.
Then, last month, a truck traveling west on Route 2 went off the right side of the road, crossed the grassy median and hit a truck waiting at the stop sign on Clay Point Road, killing its driver, Nicholas Ringuette, 33, according to a press release from Colchester police.
Routsong said she plans to ramp up efforts to pressure the state Agency of Transportation to lower the speed limit — with or without support from town officials.
“I’m not trying to blame anybody or get rid of anybody. The only thing I’m trying to do is make that road safe,” she said.
‘Not good enough’
In July 2022, the Colchester Selectboard sent a letter to the state transportation agency, requesting a full safety review and engineering analysis to improve the overall safety of a roughly 6-mile stretch of Route 2 that includes the Clay Point Road intersection.
Crash data on Route 2 collected by town officials tallied 145 crashes reported to the agency between Chimney Corner and Milton since 2012. While more than half of them occurred between Chimney Corner and exit 17 on I-89, the intersection near Clay Point Road was the most crash and injury prone of the four intersections reviewed. It recorded 23 crashes with a 47% injury rate, according to the July 19, 2022, letter shared by town officials.
Town officials cited the data and asked the Agency of Transportation to consider several safety measures for Route 2, particularly near the Clay Point Road intersection — lowering the speed limit to 40 mph, traffic signals, flashing lights at the intersection, rumble strips on the highway approaching side streets, and “other traffic control measures designed to mitigate and reduce the number and severity of accidents.”
At the time, there were multiple speed limits posted on that stretch — 40, 45 and 55 closer to Clay Point Road. The agency responded by posting new signs marking the stretch consistently at 50 mph and adding a set of yellow cross signs on both sides of Route 2 before the Clay Point Road intersection.
“That’s not good enough,” said Routsong, who believes speed is the primary problem.
McCallister, who lives on Clay Point Road where it meets Route 2, agreed. He said he and his neighbors would “love to see a light there of some sort” and the speed limit decreased to 40 miles per hour. People still zoom by at 60 or higher, he said, making it challenging to turn onto the road from Clay Point.
After the changes, Colchester officials, joined by officials in South Hero and Milton, reiterated calls to the state for additional safety measures.
In response, the agency’s traffic operations unit conducted nine speed studies on the Route 2 corridor in Colchester, Milton and South Hero but found that neither the stretch of highway nor the intersections are considered high crash locations by state standards.
“Based on the speed studies, crash history, and general character of the road, Traffic Operations recommends no change in the existing speed limits,” it concluded last October.
‘No crash is a good crash’
Town Manager Aaron Frank and Police Chief Douglas Allen said officials are waiting for results of an investigation into July’s fatal crash, which could take several weeks, before deciding how to proceed.
“Once we learn more precisely what occurred, we can engage the Selectboard, who share a deep concern for the safety of the community,” Frank said in an email. “We will obtain input from town staff in public safety and public works who can evaluate if there are any additional measures that could be taken by VTrans, or the town, to prevent this type of accident from occurring in the future.”
At the July 25 selectboard meeting, Chair Pam Loranger offered condolences to the Ringuette family and all who were affected in the latest crash.
“This is not the last time you’re going to hear about Route 2 in Colchester,” Vice Chair Tom Mulcahy said at the meeting. “We intend to follow up once we have the information that we need, and I for one do not intend to let this go for a long time, until we get this fixed.”
Loranger, Mulcahy and other selectboard members did not respond to requests for comment.
The state has no immediate plans to make additional changes to that section of Route 2, according to Erin Sisson, deputy chief engineer at the Agency of Transportation.
Sisson said she understands there is a desire for quick action when there is a fatality and emotions involved. State officials are “aware and listening” to the concerns about this stretch of roadway but have a process to follow and projects to prioritize based on funding, she said.
“So I would say, while it’s not a closed case, there’s definitely more that would need to be done in terms of coordination with the town” to make further changes there, she said.
“No crash is a good crash. We want to prevent everything that we can, but people also can have a hard time hearing as much when there’s emotion involved, and I understand that,” she said.
