This story by Aaron Calvin was first published by the News & Citizen on Oct. 12.
A set of chicanes — barriers installed to artificially narrow a road — will be installed on both the Stowe and Cambridge sides of the Smugglers Notch passage on Route 108 next year to prevent trucks from becoming stuck at the highway’s narrow summit.
The chicanes will be installed next spring when the Notch reopens for the 2024 season and may be subject to change as the Agency of Transportation monitors the project across two seasons.
The barriers are intended to mimic the constricting nature of the boulders that ensnare any tractor-trailer trucks that dare to ignore the copious signage warning drivers against entering the Notch, allowing trucks to turn around without causing the sometimes hours-long closures that currently occur.
The Agency of Transportation chose chicanes from a set of potential infrastructure solutions the agency has been exploring as part of an effort to address stuck trucks in the Notch that began in 2021.
According to Todd Sears, an executive in the agency’s operations and safety division, the chicanes solution came out of a deliberative process that involved inter-agency brainstorming, an analysis conducted by consultants Dubois & King and extensive public outreach, including a survey of drivers who use the Notch that saw over 300 respondents.
“Our intent in this kind of a two-year-experimental mode, where we use different barriers and construction materials that are movable and changeable, so that if we discovered the geometry is a little bit off, or we can we can manipulate things and change things and measure the efficacy of it — does it work or does it not — and do that for a couple of seasons,” Sears said.
The chicanes are also designed so that, if a truck does get jammed up in one, they can be altered to more easily allow traffic to flow around the stuck vehicle.
“We’re optimistic, but I’m not making any predictions,” Sears said. “I’m not an engineer, but I work with really, really smart engineers every day, and everybody is kind of optimistic and really anticipating and looking forward to seeing how this works.”
For Sears, the chicanes strike a balance the agency was seeking with this project to effectively prevent traffic obstructions while preserving the unique natural beauty that draws visitors to the Notch throughout the warmer seasons.
Other options on the table included roundabouts or a height-restrictive archway. Sears said he’s a fan of the height-gate, noting Mt. Rainier National Park in Washington as an example of an area with well-made gates, but it was ultimately determined that it wouldn’t be necessary if the chicanes function as planned.
Drivers may have noted ongoing construction in the Notch this season, but that project involved improving parking and accessibility for the trails and natural areas, and weren’t meant to address the stuck truck phenomenon.
By the numbers
With just weeks left in the 2023 season, the number of stuck truck incidents in the Notch currently sits at four, along with a handful of instances where trucks have backed down before becoming fully stuck.
Reasons given by drivers for getting stuck in the Notch this season ranged from flat-out ignoring posted signs to not understanding English or French, the languages covered in the electronic warning signs.
This is still less than the five stuck trucks in 2022, six in 2021 and seven in 2020, and a marked decline from the 12 stuck trucks recorded in 2013, 2014 and 2017.
This steady reduction coincides with an effort from the agency to increase the number of signs warning truck drivers to stay out of the Notch, a greater partnership with law enforcement and other state agencies, strengthening legislation concerning the Notch, and efforts to enlist GPS companies and trucker trade magazines in spreading their warnings.
With the implementation of this chicane project, Sears and his colleagues are hoping to finally put an end to the perennial challenge to one of Vermont’s most unique highways.
