The Vermont Agency of Transportation received $19.7 million in federal funding to help complete the reconstruction of Route 7 from Pittsford to Brandon, one of the state’s — and New England’s — busiest highways, the Vermont Congressional Delegation announced Monday.
“We’re seeing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law at work here in Rutland County,” Sen. Peter Welch wrote in a statement to VTDigger. “I was proud to support the bill and to help secure this funding.”
The funding was awarded through the federal Department of Transportation’s Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development grant program, or BUILD, under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Acting as a principal high-capacity urban roadway on the National Highway System, the 12-mile north-south corridor on the western side of Vermont is largely used for shipping goods and services.
According to the agency, the project, a portion of a larger reconstruction of that stretch of Route 7, was estimated to cost $22.3 million and was put out to bid earlier this year before the contract was awarded to Engineer’s Construction, Inc. in May.
The reconstruction is set to start this fall and be completed by fall 2028.
“This project will make one of the most traveled highways in our state safer and more reliable, from Pittsford to Brandon and beyond,” Welch, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Becca Balint said in a Monday press release.
After a 2023 scoping study conducted on the Pittsford-Brandon corridor identified the need for safety and capacity improvements, the Vermont Agency of Transportation has been rebuilding the roadway in segments for years.
Fuss and O’Neill, an engineering and environmental consulting firm, found through the study that the corridor was challenging for truck drivers to travel at a consistent speed and the shoulders to be too narrow for bicyclists or for vehicles to pull over in.
The design for the reconstruction included 3,225-foot northbound and 1,150-foot southbound climbing lanes, or extra roadway lanes added on mountainous terrain, to facilitate the flow of traffic throughout the corridor, among other improvements.
Fuss and O’Neill also designed an official parking area along the corridor with new trees for people to safely park.
So far, three of the six phases of the broader reconstruction project have been completed, including in the areas south of Pittsford Village, Brandon village and Otter Valley Union and going north, Casey Leach, project manager at the Vermont Agency of Transportation, said.
The project is primarily to “make it safer for pedestrians and bicyclists as well as for vehicles,”
Leach said.
Through the BUILD grant, the state can help fund construction for widening the roadway, adding truck climbing lanes, replacing culverts and drainage and improving wildlife crossings.
“I’m appreciative of the Agency of Transportation’s work as well as the congressional delegation for their work in bringing this funding back home to Vermont,” Gov. Phil Scott said in the Monday press release.
