New England 11, May 22, 2024

Conn. Celebrates Rapid Reopening of I-95 Bridge After Destructive Fire

Connecticut officials on May 6 praised first responders and construction crews who worked through the previous weekend to get a stretch of Interstate 95 in Norwalk reopened to traffic following a tractor-trailer fire under the structure early on May 2.

Hundreds of construction personnel worked to demolish the Fairfield Avenue Bridge, which was heavily damaged in the blaze, and quickly get the highway surface ready for vehicle travel.

At the site of the crash four days later, state and local officials gathered to celebrate a return to normalcy for traffic on the busy section of I-95, which fully reopened May 5 to both northbound and southbound travel.

FEMA Sends Vt. $22M for Cleanup Costs Due to July 2023 Floods in Montpelier

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is sending Vermont $22 million to cover its costs in cleaning up debris and stabilizing state buildings in the capital city of Montpelier following last summer’s historic flooding, according to VTDigger, a nonprofit online news service.

The bulk of the federal reimbursement to the Vermont Department of Buildings and General Services (BGS) is meant to repay it for removing contaminated floodwaters from 14 state buildings and dehumidifying them, FEMA said in an April 19 news release.

The money comes in the form of two grants of

$14,375,582 and $6,820,765, respectively.

Of the 14 Montpelier structure’s that were eligible to receive the funds, a full two dozen are located along State Street, including Vermont’s:

• Defender General’s office at 6 Baldwin Ave.

• Division of Liquor Control at 13 Green Mountain Dr.

• Pavilion Office Building at 109 State St., which includes the offices of Gov. Phil Scott and his senior staffers.

• Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriff’s office at 110 State.

Hundreds of construction personnel worked to demolish the Fairfield Avenue

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Mass. Communities to Benefit From Infrastructure Funds

At a May 3 event in Melrose, Mass., Gov. Maura Healey signed legislation authorizing $200 million for Fiscal Year 2025 to fund bridge and road maintenance as well as other infrastructure projects in all 351 municipalities across the state under its Chapter 90 program.

In addition, the bill will fund a total of $175 million more for six transportation infrastructure grant programs.

Implemented by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), the Chapter 90 program provides cities and towns with an annual funding source for improvements to and investments in local transportation networks.

Every municipality in the state is allocated a portion of total program dollars, which allows them to evaluate their unique transportation needs and goals and allocate funding dollars accordingly, according to the Healy administration.

The funding also helps cities and towns compete for new and historic levels of federal grant opportunities under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Proof of available matching funds is generally required as a condition of applying for a federal award, and showing the availability of dedicated funds for this purpose dramatically strengthens applications to any such federal program.

Healy was joined at the signing by Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, Administration and Finance Secretary Matthew Gorzkowicz,

and Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt.

“We know that residents’ quality of life and our state’s economic strength depends on people being able to get where they need to go safely and on time,” Healy said as she signed the legislation. “These Chapter 90 funds and millions more for six grant programs will help us deliver critical road, bridge and infrastructure projects that communities and the traveling public need. We're proud to sign this bill into law today and grateful to the Legislature for their partnership.”

Driscoll, who served as mayor of Salem until last year, added, “As a former mayor, I know how much this money means to our cities and towns. In particular, Chapter 90 apportionments go a long way in making sure our transportation system is safe and reliable for people who live, work, and visit our communities."

The funding will facilitate longstanding and newly identified projects and improvements, such as bridge repairs and reconstruction, in addition to roadway, bike path, sidewalk and curbing construction, accessibility improvements, milling and paving, and lighting and traffic signal improvements.

Tibbits-Nutt noted that MassDOT is pleased to administer the Chapter 90 program “because we have seen the on-theground impact the funding can have in our cities and towns.”

Grant Initiatives Also Will Fund Transportation Needs

In addition to the $200 million total in Chapter 90 funding, the state’s Rural Roadway Funding program and six transportation infrastructure grant programs will each receive a total of $25 million.

Among them are:

• The Municipal Pavement Program, which focuses on the improvement of municipally owned state-number routes. Projects are selected based on pavement condition data, the proportion of state numbered roadways in poor condition in a municipality, and geographic equity.

• Municipal Small Bridge Program, a provider of financial assistance to cities and towns for small bridge replacement, preservation and rehabilitation projects. To be eligible, bridges must be on a local public way and on the Massachusetts State Bridge Inventory with a span between 10-20-ft. in length.

• Rural Roadway Funding Program, a distributor of funds to all 351 municipalities using a formula based on local road mileage, municipal population and rurality.

• Complete Streets Funding Program, which provides monies for municipalities to build infrastructure for “complete streets” projects that support travel for everyone whether they walk, bicycle, take public transportation or drive.

• Municipal Bus Enhancement Program, a source of grant funding to build out infra-

structure related to mass transit by bus.

• Mass Transit Access Grant Program, which awards grants for design and construction improvements to access commuter rail stations or other mass transit stations, such as parking lots, drop-off and pick-up zones, bicycle storage infrastructure and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

• Municipal/Regional Transit Authority (RTA) Electric Vehicle (EV) Grant Program, a source of grants to RTAs and municipalities for the purchase of electric vehicles and related charging equipment.

Healy applied her signature to the bill in Melrose, as Mayor Jennifer Grigoraitis looked on, because the city has been using Chapter 90 funding to support several road improvement projects along its Main Street. The updated construction work in the community just north of Boston will include new concrete sidewalks, granite upgrades, and a replacement of the existing asphalt sidewalk. Melrose is due to receive more than $520,000 in funding for these projects, according to Healy’s office.

“Chapter 90 funds give towns and cities the chance to improve the safety, function, and beauty of our local neighborhoods and local transportation infrastructure,” explained Grigoraitis. “The additional Chapter 90 funding in the law signed today will make a world of difference for cities like Melrose and enable us to continue to pursue proactive and high-impact improvements to local roads and routes.” 

U.S. Navy Awards Contract to Skanska to Build Facility

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new facility on Naval Station Newport in Rhode Island. The complex will serve as the future home of the NOAA Marine Operations CenterAtlantic.

Seapower, a magazine published by the Navy League of the United States, reported that the Navy, on behalf of NOAA, awarded nearly $146.8 million to Skanska USA to build the new facility.

The Navy League is a 122-year-old organization that supports the country’s sea services.

The design and construction of the NOAA facility is funded in part by the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest climate investment in history, as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.

The complex will include a pier to accommodate four large vessels, a floating dock for smaller ships, space for vessel repairs, parking and a building to be used for shoreside support and as a warehouse.

Construction is anticipated to be completed in 2027, according to Seapower.

“Thanks to the leadership of President Biden and the hard work of Rhode Island’s elected leaders, we are making transformative investments in Rhode Island and all across the country,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said during the groundbreaking.

“President Biden’s Investing in America agenda made it possible for NOAA to construct this new facility and make advances in critical climate and ocean research, while also cementing NOAA’s relationships with the Navy and the community of Newport. This facility will support science and a healthy economy well into the future.”

NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad added, “I’m proud to say that this new facility has been designed to take future changes in our climate into consideration. It will be LEED certified and will soon be the homeport for one of our newest, lower-emissions vessels, working towards the goal to minimize NOAA’s own impact on the environment.”

The federal agency’s fleet of 15 research and survey ships are operated, managed, and maintained by NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations.

Ranging from large oceanographic research vessels capable of exploring the world’s deepest ocean, to smaller ships responsible for charting the shallow bays and inlets of the United States, the fleet supports a wide range of marine activities, including fisheries surveys, nautical charting and ocean and climate studies.

NOAA Corps officers and civilian professional mariners operate the agency’s ships, Seapower noted.

“The new, state-of-the-art Marine Operations Center-Atlantic facility is critical to NOAA’s mission and delivering on our commitments to regional, international. and other diverse partners,” explained NOAA Corps Rear Admiral Nancy Hann, director of the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps and NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations. “Newport has always been a welcoming community to NOAA, and we are appreciative of the support from local, state, and congressional leaders as well as our mission partners at Naval Station Newport.”

Three of Rhode Island’s Democratic Congressional members — U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, along

with 1st District Congressman Gabe Amo — also were on hand for the Newport event to celebrate the start of the facility’s construction.

“NOAA is the top scientific weather and oceans agency, and I was pleased to help Rhode Island land [the] MOC-A. Naval Station Newport’s location,” Reed said.

“The years of strategic federal investments we’ve made here are really paying off. Bringing NOAA’s premiere research fleet and Atlantic operations center to the Ocean State means hundreds of jobs for Rhode Island and a brighter future for our Blue Economy.”

Whitehouse added, “This day would not have been possible without Sen. Reed’s longtime dedication to relocating the Center to the Ocean State.”

In his remarks, Amo predicted NOAA’s expanding presence in Rhode will lead to “a massive jobs and economy boon for years to come.”

“The work to construct and staff the Marine Operations Center-Atlantic right here on Naval Station Newport will improve our national security and non-military operations,” he continued. 

No Timetable Set for I-95 Overpass Bridge Replacement

Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto praised the efforts of his agency’s personnel, as well as those from federal agencies, and his transportation counterparts in other states, “from Maryland all the way up to Massachusetts,” Eucalitto said.

He was joined at the news conference by Gov. Ned Lamont, who noted, “Too often in government you have politicians who overpromise and underdeliver. Not the people standing behind me here. These guys overdelivered.”

Following the major collision, which shut down the freeway and snarled traffic in lower Fairfield County and other parts of Connecticut, CTDOT and its contractors went right to work to get I-95, the East Coast’s busiest traffic artery, reopened in less than 80 hours.

He added that the demolition of the bridge and the reconstruction of the interstate highway “was an amazing work of art.”

Connecticut Democratic U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal praised the demolition and road crews for their “symphony of teamwork” in getting the critical repairs made as quickly as possible.

“Guys behind me here have been without sleep for quite a while, and, as good as they look, [these people] in the yellow vests have given time, effort and energy,” he added.

No One Injured in Crash That Set Off Fire

The fiery three-vehicle crash that closed I-95 on May 2 unfolded after a 22-year-old Stamford driver of a Chevrolet Camaro struck the front end of an oil tanker while attempting to change lanes, according to an accident report.

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CT Post reported that the sports car was traveling southbound in the interstate’s far right lane around 5:30 a.m. when it merged into the right center lane occupied by the tanker, leading to the initial collision, Connecticut State Police officials wrote in a two-page crash summary.

The tanker, which was hauling 8,500 gal. of oil, then veered into the left center lane, struck a tractor-trailer, and burst into flames before coming to a stop directly under the Fairfield Avenue overpass.

Unbelievably, none of the three drivers involved were hurt, CT Post noted.

Following the major collision, which shut down the freeway and snarled traffic in lower Fairfield County and other parts of Connecticut, CTDOT and its contractors went right to work to get I-95, the East Coast’s busiest traffic artery, reopened in less than 80 hours.

State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, a Norwalk Democrat, told CT Post “there was gridlock, really, throughout the city” from the time of the crash through to the highway’s reopening on May 5.

The work involved demolishing the Fairfield Avenue Bridge due to the severe damage it sustained from the collision and fire, in addition to removing tons of concrete, steel

and debris from the roadway, sweeping the interstate, performing all new milling and paving, and restriping I-95’s pavement markings.

Josh Morgan, a CTDOT spokesperson, said the affected section of I-95 carries more than 120,000 vehicles per day, and it was vital to both Connecticut and the region to get it moving again.

“We saw on traffic cameras, when just that small section of I-95 was shut down, the logjam that it created on other highways as well as the local roads in Norwalk,” he explained.

Bridge Replacement Will Not Happen Quickly

Still, replacing the highway overpass bridge will take time and money.

Eucalitto said the demolition and reconstruction would likely cost around $20 million, with a ribbon-cutting hopefully coming within a year. Blumenthal added that the federal government would bear the brunt of that cost.

While crews were working to make the highway suitable for traffic once more, CTDOT engineers spent the weekend developing preliminary replacement plans for the Fairfield Avenue Bridge. Those designs were expected to be completed within two weeks.

At the State Capitol in Hartford May 6, CTDOT workers were introduced and applauded in front of both chambers of the General Assembly.

“What an extraordinary thing to do,” noted Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, a New Haven Democrat. “It points out the work that our state employees do in crisis situations and how much that can mean to us. Everybody in the General Assembly certainly celebrates what you did.” 

(All photos courtesy of CTDOT.)

FEMA Repays Vermont for Cleanup of Flood-Damaged Structures in Montpelier

• Agriculture Agency building at 116 State.

• Office of Veterans Affairs building at 118 State.

• State Commission on Women offices at 126 State.

• Secretary of State building at 128 State.

• State Auditor’s building at 132 State.

• State Tax Department at 133 State.

• State Arts Council at 136 State.

• State Information Center at 134 State.

• Green Mountain Care Board offices at 144 State.

BGS also contracted to remove moisture from the buildings to prevent further damage using portable generators, air moving equipment, lighting and portable cameras to monitor unmanned equipment.

Another $1 million is being sent to Vermont to allow it to recover state payments to contractors for the removal of nearly 12 tons of construction, demolition and vegetative debris, the latter of which included damaged trees and bro-

ken limbs from roads and public property.

The payment also covered the cost of hauling the waste to a disposal site, according to FEMA.

VTDigger earlier reported that the July 2023 statewide storms had impacted 22 state buildings in the capital.

Affected officials and employees, including state Supreme Court staffers, along with Scott and his staff, moved to temporary workspaces. The floodwaters also had damaged all of the computers at the Green Mountain Care Board offices.

“Reimbursing state, county and municipal governments, as well as eligible nonprofits and tribal entities, for the costs incurred as a result of this disaster is an important part of the state’s recovery,” FEMA Region 1 Regional Administrator Lori Ehrlich said in the statement.

The $22 million reimbursement comes from FEMA’s Public Assistance Program, a source of funding nationwide for states and communities recovering from a federally declared disaster or emergency. 

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Sales Auction Company Holds 15th Annual Spring Sale

Sales Auction Company Inc. held its 15th annual two-day spring auction May 3 and 4, 2024, in Windsor Locks, Conn.

The auction marked the largest to date, itemwise, and the second largest to date for total revenue ($9.68 million) for the company. Total registered bidders reached 2,919 with 1,898 online bidders and 1,019 onsite bidders all vying for 1,706 lots. Some bidders participated from as far away as St. Lucia, Puerto Rico, Latvia, Egypt and Australia.

The first day featured an extensive, timed auction with lots primarily consisting of small items, such as hand tools, attachments, shop supplies, toolboxes, and items that contractors might use in their shop or in the field, which would not typically go on the block at a heavy equipment auction.

The second day featured the largest lineup of earthmoving, paving equipment, aerial lifts and trucks that Sales Auction Company has ever assembled for its spring event with more than 400 lots on site.

The mini-excavator lineup included models as recent as 2021 Bobcat, 2021 Hitachi, and 2021 Volvo machines, just to name a few. Also in the sale were more than 40 skid steers, including several 2021 Bobcats, a 2022 Bobcat compact track loader and several 2021 Caterpillar skid steers.

The wheel loader lineup included a matched pair of Caterpillar 906M machines with very low hours. The excavator and truck lineups were by far the largest the sale has ever offered.

Other highlights of the auction included a:

• 2018 John Deere 210GLC excavator with 3,515 hours, which sold for $122,500;

• 2022 Volvo EC60E mini-excavator with 1,234 hours, which sold for $71,000;

• 2015 Caterpillar 299DXHP CTL with 2,643 hours, which sold for $54,000;

• 2003 Caterpillar 988G wheel loader with 35,793 hours, which sold for $77,000;

• 2011 John Deere 650J LT dozer with 1,633 hours, which sold for $95,000; and

• 2016 Mack Granite GU713 triaxle dump truck with 239,302 mi. which sold for $150,000.

(All photographs in this article are Copyright 2024 Construction Equipment Guide. All Rights Reserved.)

Bidders had a great lineup of mini-excavators to choose from during the auction.

According to Sam Sales, this year’s auction produced the finest lineup of trucks his company has put on the block.

Sam Sales Sr. and Sam Sales Jr. roll out a classic Indian motorcycle to be sold to the highest bidder.

In addition to online bidders, a huge number of in-person bidders gather as the sale gets started.

The sale moves at a rapid pace as each item sells to the highest bidder.

Dan Anderson (R) of Sales Auction Company welcomes Mike Regan of Monroe Tractor to the auction.

Sales Auction Holds Its Largest Equipment Sale to Date

AUCTION from page 8

More than 50 skid steers await new owners.

This auction had a nice selection of both single- and double-drum vibratory rollers.

This Kobelco excavator gets a solid workout pre-sale by a potential buyer.

Inspecting the biggest loader on the lot, a Cat 988G, are Mark Marek (L) and Deven Nagleck.

Jimmy Jeffers of Nash Equipment in northern New Hampshire checks out one of the Mack trucks.

Richie Roulston of Roulston Services in Windsor Locks, Conn., inspects a John Deere 650 crawler.

Each year, Sales Auction Company manages to find a few unique consignments, such as this classic autocar flatbed truck.

A great spread of more than 25 full-sized excavators are ready to go to work for new owners.

Dan Wetmore (L) and Matt O’Neil, both of Cherry Hill Glass in Branford, Conn., check out some Hamm double-drum rollers for an upcoming paving project.

Boston Planners Discuss City’s Back Bay Streets Projects

Boston transportation planners hosted a meeting May 2 to discuss their plans to add more bike lanes and bus lanes to various streets in the city’s Back Bay neighborhood, which is currently a significant bottleneck for frequent-service bus routes and a major gap in the Massachusetts capital’s growing network of protected bike lanes.

The city will reconfigure three Back Bay streets this year — Boylston, Berkeley and Clarendon — to add new bus and bike lanes, StreetsblogMASS reported May 6.

At the same time, officials are finalizing proposed designs aimed at calming traffic and improving connectivity in the bike network on Beacon, Dartmouth and Stuart streets.

Collectively, these projects will fill major gaps in Boston’s bicycle network by connecting protected bikeways that already exist in the downtown to popular routes like Tremont Street in the South End, the Massachusetts Avenue bridge and the Charles River Esplanade.

Boylston Street

“There is a center lane that is supposed to be a through lane, but folks use it to cut off and get ahead of the rightturning traffic that is waiting in the rightturn lane,” explained Fink. “With a [twolane configuration], we think that this is going to make it harder for drivers to turn when they’re not supposed to.”

Additionally, in an effort to reconfigure five intersections around the periphery of the Public Garden, the intersection of Arlington and Beacon also will be changed to add a new crosswalk across Beacon, and the existing Arlington Street bike lane would be repainted as a twoway bikeway to accommodate northbound bike traffic to the Fielder Footbridge.

Planners Call for Dartmouth Street Bikeway

The first project the city will tackle during the 2024 construction season is a redesign of Boylston Street that will add an expanded and separated bike lane along the northern curb of Boylston from Massachusetts Avenue to Arlington Street.

Currently, Boylston generally features three lanes for moving vehicles, with onstreet parking along both curbs. However, double-parked vehicles frequently block one or more of those lanes, and, at times, there is only one lane available for moving traffic.

But under the city’s proposed design, Boylston Street would have two lanes for general traffic, a dedicated eastbound bike lane along the northern curb and on-street parking in between.

The project also will make permanent a dedicated bus lane along the southern curb of the street — something that Boston engineers initially tested during the Orange Line shutdown of 2022.

This segment of Boylston gets heavy bus traffic from two frequent-service Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA): bus routes 9 and 39.

Near Copley Square, where doubleparked food delivery drivers frequently block two or more lanes, Boston is adding more curbside parking regulations, and also will install a dedicated parking area for scooters in front of the Chick-Fil-A.

The city aims to start work on these changes at some point in May.

Berkeley Street

Next up on the city’s agenda will be a

repaving project on Berkeley Street, which would be followed by the installation of a new curbside parking-protected bike lane along the eastern curb from Columbus Avenue to the Commonwealth Avenue mall. StreetsblogMASS noted that much like Boylston Street, the current Berkeley Street features three lanes for motor vehicles and two lanes of curbside parking. The city’s contemporary design will replace one moving motor vehicle lane with a new curbside bike lane, separated from traffic by a row of on-street parking.

This effort would extend a protected bike lane that Boston installed last fall between Tremont Street and Columbus. The city had initially planned to lengthen the lane all the way to Beacon Street to provide a connection to the Esplanade, via the Fielder Footbridge.

However, Boston Transportation Planner Nathaniel Fink said that municipal officials decided to change the plan in response to neighborhood feedback that was “centered around concern for safety at the intersection of Berkeley and Beacon in particular.”

“This is an intersection where two heavy streams of traffic are coming in, both from Berkeley Street and from Beacon Street, and trying to turn onto Storrow Drive,” he explained. “And because of those heavy traffic flows, we sometimes get long queues [as well as] frustrated drivers who are behaving in ways that we do not want them to behave.”

Instead of directing more bike traffic into the Storrow Drive bottleneck, the city, instead, is planning additional bikeway projects — on Dartmouth, Beacon and Arlington streets — as alternative routes.

The Berkeley Street project will be implemented this summer, after the Boylston work is complete.

Clarendon Street

The last Back Bay street project slated for work mid-year is a relatively short bus lane for Clarendon Street to mitigate a chronic bottleneck for thousands of bus riders at the end of the MBTA’s 39 bus route. The new lane would extend from the Boylston Street bus lane south to the Back Bay bus station, one of the busiest stops on the route.

Beacon Street Repaving

Finally, the city also plans to repave numerous other Back Bay streets in 2024.

One of the roadways slated to get a fresh coat of asphalt is Beacon Street, which is home to one of the neighborhood’s oldest parking-protected bike lanes.

As such, the existing bike lane is riddled with potholes and bumps, meaning that Boston’s paving project should make it a considerably smoother ride.

Beacon Street Bikeway Gap in Design Phase

StreetsblogMASS noted that city engineers are continuing to refine their designs for the block-long bikeway gap on Beacon Street between Arlington and Berkeley streets.

Under Boston’s current plans, which could be implemented before the end of the year, the city would install a curbside parking-protected bike lane on the south side of Beacon Street from Arlington to Berkeley. Then, bikes continuing west would use the traffic signal to cross to the existing protected bike lane on the north side of Beacon, away from the Storrow Drive on-ramp traffic.

The revised design also would reduce the number of lanes on this block of Beacon from three to two — a move that officials hope will help curb aggressive driving.

In lieu of the proposed connection to the Esplanade on Berkeley Street, the city is now proposing an additional two-way protected bikeway on Dartmouth Street between the new Boylston Street bike lane at Copley Square and the Dartmouth Street footbridge to the Esplanade over Storrow Drive.

This section of the street already has an unprotected paint-only bike lane, but Boston officials want to replace a lane of metered on-street parking to create a two-way bikeway along the eastern curb of the avenue. The project would not affect the two existing motor vehicle lanes on this segment of Dartmouth.

According to the city’s presentation, this bikeway would be implemented with quickbuild materials near the end of 2024 or in early 2025.

Crosswalk Upgrades Coming to Stuart, Dartmouth

Finally, the city also is working on a modest “quick build” effort to improve safety at the intersection of Stuart and Dartmouth streets next to the Back Bay Station.

This intersection mixes heavy foot traffic heading to and from the station with fastmoving vehicles from the Massachusetts Turnpike, and is a hot spot for accidents, according to Boston’s Vision Zero crash database.

“There are uncomfortable pedestrian crossings and high turning speeds for vehicles,” said Fink. “They are made possible by very wide turning lanes that were built in the 1950s and 1960s to accommodate fast-moving traffic and are not reflective of the dense urban environment that we have today.” Boston also is planning to re-stripe the turning lanes from Stuart Street so that cars have a narrower lane, and pedestrians will be less exposed in the crosswalks between the intersection’s islands. 

City of Boston photo

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NEW ENGLAND SUPPLEMENT

Berlin, Vt., Moves Step Closer to Building New Town Center

At a time when other surrounding Vermont downtowns are still recovering from last July’s devastating floods, the small community of Berlin is about to launch its new town center on a hill, high above the floodplain, beginning with an affordable housing complex next to the Central Vermont Marketplace, also known as the Berlin Mall.

Downstreet Housing & Community Development, based in Barre, Vt., expects to begin construction in June on Fox Run, a 30unit workforce housing project, according to Angie Harbin, Downstreet’s executive director. Renters could move in as soon as September 2025, she added.

The apartment building will be built on 2.3 acres across the road from Chestnut Place, a 98-unit privately owned senior housing facility next to Walmart. The purchase from Berlin Mall LLC is expected to close sometime in May or June, Harbin noted.

Additionally, the Town of Berlin has granted a zoning permit for a Starbucks to be built next door to Fox Run and expects an asyet unnamed restaurant and a retail outlet to request building permits in April, according to Tom Badowski, Berlin’s assistant town administrator.

All of it will be constructed on a wooded lot currently owned by the Berlin Mall, Badowski told the Montpelier news source, though it is only one component of a larger town center plan that has been in the planning stages for decades.

He said that Berlin’s new town center has established partnerships with the Town of Berlin and the mall (which will soon include a land swap so Berlin can build an administrative building there), the Central Vermont Medical Center (CVMC) as well as agreements with the state of Vermont and three nearby car dealerships.

Berlin’s New Town Center Should Add to Its Growth

The Montpelier Bridge reported that in 2022, Berlin became the third municipality in the state — and the only one outside of Chittenden County — to receive the “new town center” designation from the state.

“To me, that’s significant,” Badowski said.

With a population of just 3,000, Berlin is located between Montpelier and Barre and home to some of central Vermont’s major employers, including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont and the CVMC.

To date, Berlin has not had a town center,

despite having a retail center, according to the online news source.

The idea for a new town center dates back 25 years, when residents developed a plan that ended up sitting on a shelf for over a decade, Badowski explained. It was dusted off about 10 years ago, he said, shortly before Berlin officials decided to proceed with it.

By the time they completed a new town plan, he said, it had been transformed from a dusty, 500-page, small-font document into one that used a larger font and lots of pictures making it easier to read and use.

Helping to lay the groundwork for the new Berlin Town Center, the Bridge noted, was the construction of a $10 million water and sewer system where one had never existed before. The town drilled four wells, Badowski said, and laid nearly 40,000 ft. of pipe to connect businesses and homes to a central system.

“It’s a system we totally built from scratch,” Ture Nelson, Berlin’s interim town administrator and Select Board member said in speaking with the Bridge.

Badowski is quick to note that the cost of the water and sewer system was covered in part by a $2 million grant, along with user fees.

The town also updated its zoning recently to allow for more housing, he said, to the point that the town currently has no limit on how many housing units can go onto a lot.

“The planning commission has a vision of 350 to 500 [more] units,” Badowski continued. “We are a small town with 3,000 people, but we want 5,000 residents, and have people come live here and make central Vermont their home.”

Fox Run Likely to Help Improve Berlin’s Walkability

Both Badowski and Nelson told the Montpelier news source that building housing so close to the mall, the car lots, the hospital and Berlin’s elementary school will create an environment where people can walk more and drive less.

Regarding Fox Run, Harbin noted, “From that site you can walk to the school and there’s sidewalks to the hospital and medical center. Creating all of those connections right there really does make sense.”

In fact, Badowski said walkability is a big part of the new town center plan. Earlier in March, he noted, the town heard it was likely to receive a

million grant to build a multi-use path situated away from the busy road and