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How about a roundabout?
APRIL 24, 2025
WILLISTON’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1985
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Selectboard considers upgrade options at S. Brownell-Marshall Ave. intersection BY JASON STARR Observer staff
Traffic engineers consulting with the Town of Williston are advocating for a roundabout at the fourway intersection of South Brownell Road and Marshall Avenue. But industrialists who truck heavy loads through the area are wary of the idea. The crossroads is “the industrial center of Chittenden County and probably the state,” said Ryan Carroll, a manager at Wood’s CRW Corporation. The company is headquartered on the southeast corner of the intersection and provides construction equipment to job sites throughout New England and New
A rendering of a roundabout at the intersection of S. Brownell Road and Marshall Avenue was presented last week to the Williston Selectboard. IMAGE COURTESY OF STANTEC
York. Down the road is a regional hub for FedEx, with its steady flow of 18-wheelers coming through the intersection. “Our concern is the ability of
these wider loads to be able to navigate that roundabout,” Carroll said during a Town Hall meeting last week when engineers from Stantec presented plans to the selectboard.
— including dermatology, neurology, cardiology and primary care — from 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on Saturdays. The under-the-radar start allowed the volunteer staff to smooth out operational kinks. Now, the clinic is ready to welcome a higher patient volume; it issued a press release earlier this month announcing its presence. Abdool Khan of Williston is the organization’s operations and communications manager. South Burlington neurologist Waqar Waheed is its medical director. “It’s an extraordinary group of people who have come together to
work on this,” Waheed said. It’s taken about four years for the clinic to go from Waheed’s original concept to opening its doors. The doctor said he received permission from UVM to launch the clinic. The clinic has the potential to reduce UVM’s costs by caring for patients before health conditions deteriorate. “Some patients who are uninsured and underinsured, they delay or forego care until crisis happens,” said Waheed. “And when that happens ... they end up in the ER, and they have multiple see CLINIC page 3
Doctors, volunteers work overtime to open free health clinic BY JASON STARR Observer staff
A group of UVM Medical Center doctors are volunteering on Saturday mornings to offer their services free to uninsured and underinsured patients. A Williston entrepreneur has helped them launch the effort under the name Free Access Health Clinic, operating as a non-profit from an office on Swift Street in South Burlington. The clinic quietly opened in November, offering appointments in a variety of specialties
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This would be the first true roundabout in Williston (excepting the small traffic circle between parking lots at the Maple Tree Place shopping center).
“New configurations can be challenging, but these are being built around the world,” Stantec engineer Sean Neely said. “And as we’ve seen in Waterbury, Burlington and other areas of Vermont, after construction and after some use, generally public perception grows to be positive around them.” Neely presented another option for upgrading the intersection: adding turning lanes and truck aprons while keeping the four-way traffic light. He said the roundabout would cost less and move traffic through the area more efficiently and safely. “They do reduce the number and severity of crashes in comparison to typical four-way, signalized intersections,” Neely said. The selectboard plans to choose an option at a future meeting. Board member Mike Isham previewed his vote. see ROUNDABOUT page 3
Outside the Free Access Health Clinic on Swift Street in South Burlington. OBSERVER COURTESY PHOTO