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RECIPE INSIDE! JULY 29, 2021
WILLISTON’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1985
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Marshall Ave. bridge replacement begins
Traffic detoured to Route 2 BY JASON STARR Observer staff
A long-awaited permanent replacement to the bridge that connects Williston and South Burlington over the Muddy Brook at Marshall Avenue is expected to be open by end of the year, but not before a five-month closure that detours traffic to Route
2 starting Monday. Williston voters approved a $1 million bond for the project at Town Meeting Day in 2020. The town is sharing the estimated $2 million cost of the new bridge with South Burlington. The bridge is being designed with more space for bikers and pedestrians to cross between the two municipalities. Structural problems with the crossing were first exposed in the spring of 2017, when a metal culvert
that takes the Muddy Brook under the bridge washed out under heavy rains. The culvert failure destabilized the bridge, and the connection was closed for several months until the two municipalities, working with the Vermont Agency of Transportation, installed a temporary bridge in August of that year. About two years later, in a “Halloween Storm” in 2019 that dropped roughly 4 inches of rain on Chittenden County, the culvert was over-
whelmed again, causing a closure of the temporary bridge that lasted through the end of 2019. By the beginning of 2020, crews with Engineers Construction were able to stabilize the embankments of the brook and reopen the temporary bridge. Both municipalities have been working on an expedited timeline since then to secure the $2 million needed for a long-term solution. Marshall Avenue in Williston and Kimball Avenue in South
ARPA funds begin to flow
Water service shut down on Mountain View Road
Town anticipates $3 million BY JASON STARR Observer staff Typically, a town government would have to request— either through a town-wide vote for borrowing authority or through state and federal grant applications — the large sums of money that are currently being distributed under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) signed into federal law earlier this year. Williston’s first installment of this unsolicited windfall — which will total $3 million, about a third of the town’s annual budget — is expected to arrive in August, according to Town Manager Erik Wells. It is offered under the umbrella of pandemic relief. “It’s very rare to get an amount of money like this, and it may never happen again. So we’re trying to think of a good way to invest those funds for the community,” Wells said. “That’s likely a conversation I’ll bring to the selectboard in the next couple months … to define a process and pull together some more finite ideas.” There’s a caveat, however, with two-thirds ($2 million) of the total Williston allocation. The town was expecting all of it’s ARPA funds to come directly to town coffers, but the legislation was written so that see ARPA page 7
Burlington will be closed starting Monday as work begins to remove the temporary bridge. Detour signs will take drivers north to Route 2 via Shunpike and South Brownell roads. The new bridge is expected to be open with at least alternating oneway traffic by December, according to the Agency of Transportation. Work will continue in the spring of 2022 to finalize the project.
A day at the park Kiona French (above) plays disc golf at Williston Commmunity Park on Sunday evening. Meanwhile, there were teams of soccer players (left) occupying the soccer pitches with various games and scrimmages, as well as competitions on the volleyball courts. See more photos on page 4. OBSERVER PHOTOS BY AL FREY
A fire hydrant replacement took a turn for the worse Tuesday at the intersection of Route 2A and Mountain View Road, resulting in the loss of water service to homes along Mountain View Road and Katie Lane. The hydrant had been knocked over in a car crash earlier this month, according to Williston Assistant P u b l i c Works Di‘It’s one rector Lisa Schaeffler. of CWD’s The hydrant main lines.’ is located Lisa about 100 Schaeffler feet east of Williston the intersecAssistant Public tion where Works Director Mountain View Road, Route 2A and Industrial Avenue come together. On Monday, when a crew from Engineers Construction of South Burlington, a contractor for the Champlain Water District (CWD), was attempting to replace the hydrant, a leaking valve was discovered. The water mainline along Mountain View Drive from the intersection with Route 2A to a pump station just east of Katie Lane had to be shut down so crews could repair the leaking valve. “It’s one of CWD’s main lines,” Schaeffler said, adding that loss of water service is rare in Williston and that she was expecting calls from homeowners to flood the public works office if service wasn’t restored quickly. The line was revived and water service returned by about 4 p.m. — Jason Starr