 We are so thrilled that there's so many of you here tonight Giving up your evening and being home and coming here and hearing about the bridge project so we're really grateful for you to be here and Hear about the project and what the plans are over the next few years for the project and my name is Jennifer Zorn and I'm leading the public outreach For the next few years on the job My role is to assist the Vermont agency of transportation with what they have planned for this project It's a real pleasure to be here and to be working on this job As I can see by the people here that the bridge is very important to all of you. It's a great bridge We've had a lot of interest from members of the public so far We've seen received a fair number of comments through the website So we hope that continues because all of your input really helps us keeps us on track and makes Certain that we as a project team can deliver the best Bridge for you in the next few years that you get to enjoy for a very long time So just a couple items So to want to introduce the project team so from the Vermont agency of transportation. We have Bob Kleinfelter and Then also from Vermont agency of transportation Carolyn Koda and Then also Mike LeCroy And then from h&tb We're the consulting engineering firm again just assisting v-trans in this project Josh Oland is our lead designer Jennifer Zorn as I said, I'm working on public outreach And then also I will introduce Steve spear, too. He's here as our as assisting all of us So we're here later to answer any questions that you may have So a couple housekeeping items out in the front before though you come into the room We have some promotional materials Grocery bag with the bridge logo and notebooks and pens and we want you to take that home I think we have enough for just about everyone because we want you to go home and think about the bridge We hope you enjoy that We also have a sign-up sheet for email blasts. You can unsubscribe at any time We will not give you too many emails. We promise, but these email blasts will just give you up to date Updates on where we're gonna have other meetings or community events or important milestones in the project and The only reason that we will use your email is to send you that you blast nothing else and again You can unsubscribe at any time You can sign in on the website using the QR code and leave Comments on the form at the bottom of the homepage or you can also sign in directly on the website as well but hard copy also out there and Lastly We are going to get through the presentation first. We have about 30 slides. We're gonna go quickly through it It'll take no more than 30 minutes and then we would like to open this up to question and answers We have a lot of people online. I hope can you see how many people call? We have 40 people online, which is great So what we'll do is Anyone here who has a question and we'll take one from the audience here And then we'll take a question or a comment from someone online and we'll just go back and forth and hopefully we can get through that. Yes So we would prefer to wait to the end Just speak so the other reason is that we do have some and we have four tables in the back for Interpretation so we're going to do a small chunk of information Through the slides and then we're gonna do a quick pause. So then the interpreters can speak in we have Nepali Arabic Swahili and Somali which I'm so happy to see everyone here And the and the interpreter so thank you so much. They're from the African Americans living in Vermont organization So just to try to get through the slide because we do have to pause a little bit for the interpretation to take place So we would prefer to wait to the end unless there's something extremely overwhelming Then of course we'll we'll take we'll take questions during it. Yes, Carolyn. Yes Yeah, absolutely. We want this to be really conversational. We're so happy if we feel like we're part of the community tonight We want this to be a conversation. We want great dialogue. We want to really hear what you think It's gonna help us like I said help us as a project team deliver the best bridge possible Because it's going to be your bridge for a long time So we do want to hear everything that you have to say and we'll do our best to address all of the comments and questions tonight So with that I'm gonna turn the presentation over to Josh Olin my co-worker And then I'll do a few slides just on what we're doing for public outreach and then pass it back to Josh But no more than 30 minutes. We promise Thank you All right, so sound check as well. Everybody can hear me. Okay All right, we'll jump right into this thing So tonight's agenda shouldn't be too much of a surprise really what we want to do is give you a project overview We want to talk a little bit about the contracting mechanism. We're gonna use on this project which is unique I promise it'll be a high-level discussion not to bore anybody We'll get back into public involvement talk a little bit about the delivery of the project the timing the cost things like That and then open it up for Q&A As we work through this presentation tonight I want you to remember three things the first one the first most important thing is we want your input We know this project will be impactful. We know this project will be Something that's going to be in place for the next 75 to 100 years. We want to hear your inputs The second thing is there will be more meetings. This is just the first meeting We're having on this project. We will be back to talk about many other aspects and much finer detail So if we don't have an answer tonight, we hope to come back and provide you with that answer The final thing is that the project is evolving We are still in the very early stages of this project We have an idea of what we want to do but we want your input to make sure we understand how to progress it So let's start off with that project overview I'm sure most people are aware of where the bridge is located Situated right between Northeast Burlington and downtown Winooski over the Winooski River You can see it situated just off to the west of I-89 as well just for a frame of reference of where that is If we take a slightly closer look here, we can see the bridge over the Winooski River right in the middle We can really see that that project that bridge is surrounded by a lot of buildings We got a couple different mill buildings. We can see on the screen Another mill building off to the bottom right numerous Residential and commercial properties and a dam connecting essentially right into the west of the bridge itself However, there's a lot of things on that picture. So to kind of get our arms around it a little bit better Wanted to highlight what we see as the project area. It's really what you see here on screen It's the bridge itself as well as that intersection down in Burlington that triangular intersection with multiple signals Which we'll talk about To the north of the bridge. We don't really get into Winooski too much It's gonna be a little blending of the roadway to match back in with what's there But we don't go much further than the bridge itself. I kind of mentioned that's the overall project area Really, there's two focal points out there We have the bridge itself which we can talk a little bit about and then we have the intersection to the south of it You can't really do one of these projects without the other There's a lot of interweaving aspects to make the overall project successful They do have their own needs which we're gonna talk about separately, but we're gonna be putting it all back together as one project So before we start talking about where we're going with the bridge and where we're going with the intersection It's important to look at what's out there today. Why are we doing this? So just a quick quick snapshot of the existing condition of the bridge We can see that the bridge was built in 1928. So it was reconstructed after the 1927 flood It's been in place for just about 95 years now. It's been out there for a long time You can see from some of the pictures here. The bridge has some deterioration. There's some pack rust on the girders There's some deck delaminations. We can see some efflorescence coming through from the bridge deck itself The structure is non-redundance It's got some pin and hanger systems out there and the overall width at the top is a little bit Substandard as well, which is something to be addressed For the intersection for anybody who's driven through it, it's a bit of a complex intersection There's multiple stopping points multiple crossings The crosswalks actually come up and kind of go around the entire thing. It's a lot of different conflict points So there's a lot of confusion here and there's a history of crashes and queuing So these two areas the bridge and the intersection these have both been studied in the past They went through a scoping phase is what we call it Something that looked at a lot of different alternatives and came out with a report that made a recommendation on What to do with the project? So there's three separate reports. There was a bridge scoping report Intersection scoping reports and finally a grant application for the bridge itself to support the funding So I'm going to walk through those really quickly again to understand where we are going with this project The first one is that bridge scoping reports This scoping report at the end of the day recommended a bridge replacement It looked at a number of other solutions But at the end of the day it recommended bridge replacement as the appropriate solution to move forward In doing so it had a heavy focus on bike and pedestrian accommodations The other thing it did dig into a little bit was conceptual construction methods It doesn't dictate how the bridge is supposed to be built But it talks about options and how it influences traffic and duration on site And we'll talk a little bit more about that as well Part of the outcome of that study was to recommend the overall bridge width So I've got an image here of the existing bridge in the top right And the proposed bridge beneath it and you can see the existing bridge is about 57 feet wide total out to out The new recommended bridge is about 78 feet out to out It's going to have the same four lane pattern But it's going to have much much wider accommodations and barrier separated accommodations for bicyclists and pedestrians The next part is the intersection itself So again, this went through its own scoping phase. They looked at the intersection Essentially in a vacuum of what could be improved. What are the issues? What needs to be addressed? And they came out recommending a four-way intersection So right now there's three separate traffic signals out there with mill street barrett street riverside cold chester They recommended combining all those into one Intersection to improve movements and reduce the number of conflict points the number of crossings of pedestrians in cars Again, a big focus of this study was on bicycle and pedestrian accommodations So I mentioned the the recommendation here was to come out the other end with a four ways four way intersection The proposal that's been put forward is to take riverside, which is along the right hand at the left hand side of the screen And essentially turn it in to create a four-way stop across from barrett street This reduces the number of signals increases mobility and increases safety Again, a lot of this focus or a lot of this study was focused on bicyclists and pedestrian movements So once those scoping reports were complete, the next focus was how do we move forward with funding? And so the next part of this was all about Trying to get federal money Trying to get additional federal money to make this happen smoother So a grant application was put in in 2022. It was successful The project now has federal grant money tied to it and in getting that additional money the report obligated to improve safety address the bikes and pedestrians accommodations as I've mentioned several times Compliment the natural and cultural environment in doing so we're not just going to put back some Cookie cutter bridge that doesn't fit in with the surroundings and really provide an appealing bridge Something that people are going to be proud to drive over proud to walk over whatever it might be And I've mentioned a couple times that the bridge and the intersection have really been looked at separately at today Our job here going forward is to put those two pieces together Make them blend and act as one holistic project So so far to date we've completed the concept plans It's enough to allow our environmental groups to start looking into what's out there and understand the footprint of what our project is going to be But it's just a concept. It's not the final solution. And again, that's why we are here today We do need to combine those recommendations of the intersection and the bridge But luckily for us a lot of those recommendations focused on the same types of improvements So I've talked a little bit about the existing bridge Where we're going what it's going to look like a little bit like I said a lot of that definition We still need some input from you folks The next question is how are we going to get there? What's traffic going to look like? What's construction going to look like? So I want to talk a little bit about maintenance of traffic and I'll say right up front We are still digging into this The things I'm going to present tonight are concepts and they're not necessarily final But I do want to get it out here and start talking about this There are roughly 25 000 vehicles that cross this bridge on a daily basis, which is On par with say half of i-89 There's also around 300 pedestrians a day somewhere between three and 500 depending on the season and so forth It's a very very busy bridge and then for anybody who's crossed it. You know that already As we start to dig into how to control traffic during construction We need to consider not only minimizing impacts to the traveling public But we also need to think about the construction workers out there trying to build this project We need to make sure they have enough space to build the project and that they're safe in doing so Really in order to make that successful We're looking at a combination of temporary lane closures and a temporary bridge closure in order to get the bridge back in place So we don't take this lightly. We are starting to dig into What types of volumes are out there for the adjacent crossings to understand what can we use to move cars and other things around Is that same map we looked at earlier? You can still see that project location highlighted in yellow You can see there's five crossings of the mounouski river in this area our project being the one a little bit off to the left Further to the left. We have the burlington coal chester crossing We've got a i-89 in the middle, which we all know doesn't accept bikes or pedestrians Lime kiln road crossing and then further to the east is the s six williston crossing We're also trying to figure out where people are coming from and going to utilizing this bridge Right, that's pretty important if we're going to detour people and we have to move them to other crossings We need to know where they're coming from and where they're going to This is just a snapshot of one time of the day What's showing up there in blue is people's origin. That's where they're starting from for the daily commute, perhaps And the green shaded area is where they're going to So you can see that's the general trend of people who cross this particular bridge About 51 start off right here in downtown mounouski And about 67 end up over in downtown burlington Again, just a snapshot in time of the certain peak hour But these are the types of trends that we're looking at to understand where people are coming from and going to Can we wait for questions to the end? Okay, we can come back to it then So looking at the different crossings looking at the origins looking at the destinations and what the closest crossing is The most obvious detour for traffic if we're going to close a bridge or reduce travel lanes would be to use i-89 itself It'd be to take those people in downtown mounouski Move them east Take i-89 to the south And come back around into burlington This detour we're showing is a close-ended loop It doesn't fit necessarily with that origin destination map I was showing But that would be if you were to try to get from one end of the bridge All the way back around to the other Is the shortest vehicular detour that's available We're not saying it's the right one, but it is the shortest Of course as we do this and talk through it. We're not just looking at that route up there in green We're not just looking at those intersections. We're looking at all the spillover traffic That's going to move into all the adjacent intersections and what's happening there as well The most important thing I want to point out here's bold down there. I mentioned i-89 doesn't accept pedestrians or bicyclists So the most important thing is even if we end up with a bridge closure here We are maintaining pedestrians on site. There will be a crossing on site for this project at all times So how do we do that? How do we close the bridge but still maintain pedestrians? So this image that I have up here on the right is a sequential image of how the bridge could be constructed Not necessarily not necessarily saying it will be done this way, but it's an option So if you're standing in Winooski looking back towards Burlington, you're going to have the existing bridge somewhat in front of you Off to the right of that. We're going to build a portion of the bridge Wide enough to accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists about 12 feet wide with barriers on each side Once that's built and in place we can move people over and we can move utilities over to that part of the structure Once that's accomplished We can work upstream of the existing bridge and build the rest of that bridge And then during a short-term closure of roughly four to six weeks of detouring traffic We can demolish the bridge Slide the new one into place and actually put the two pieces together So pedestrians would be maintained on site at all times Vehicular traffic would have to detour for roughly four to six weeks during that closure period And we're trying to hone in on what that exact time frame might be So I mentioned maintenance traffic. It's not something we're taking lightly. We're still digging into it We don't have all the answers and implications But we really are trying to understand how things operate. You can see a nice color coded map there Again, just a snapshot in time of what's good. What's bad? Red's bad. Green's good We do need to have further coordination with emergency services We know closing a bridge to vehicular traffic is considerably impactful. We want to find ways to improve that type of impact Same thing with transit We know people use the bus system We know they got to get across the bridge and we know if there's added congestion There's going to be delays in getting to where you want to go Those are future coordination items and we are currently trying to set up meetings with those agencies to have a better dialogue I already mentioned we're going to be looking at off-site improvements In the last part we're going to be looking at too is something we call user costs What is the underlying cost to the public of us closing that bridge to and how do we weigh that against the construction cost? So that's a quick overview of the project in terms of what we think is going back The implications of traffic and what we're thinking about for different closures and maintaining pedestrians I want to talk real high level about design build contracting and as I said earlier I promise I'm not going to get into the weeds on this It's enough to really help you guys understand what we're going to be doing here on the project So what is design build? Well, it's It's a way to put the final design of a project under the same umbrella as the contractor So that way the contractor and the engineer can work together to find a method that best meets that contractor's abilities Right if we design something and a contractor has to cost it out and it costs way too much for a specific contractor They could work with an engineering team to make it better It really tries to shed a lot of the responsibilities and risks From the state onto the contractor for them to determine the best way forward In general March and rate down the list here promotes innovations It improves design and construction efficiencies because they can work together and actually design something for the contractor as opposed to trying to address it from multiple Reduces construction costs and reduces schedule as well because again, they're working hand in hand As opposed to finishing the design then doing construction So in a typical process V trains would be responsible for this laundry list on the left and the contractor would be responsible for constructing it Typical flow would be to define the project coordinate the permits final design Get into contracting and then construction Using the design build method it strips a lot of the responsibilities of V trains and pushes them over to the contractor Unless this actually get this bridge project moving a little bit quicker get groundbreaking sooner and so forth So What does this mean for everybody? Why am I telling you this? I mentioned we're going to be back to get additional input, right? We want to make sure this bridge feels nice We want to make sure that you have different treatment options We want to talk about specifics of what it's going to look and feel like But in order to allow the contractor that innovation and to reduce cost reduce schedule They have to have their own flair of the project So we need to be able to provide them with guidelines and not absolute specifics So as we come back and talk about Maybe it's railings. Maybe it's lighting. Maybe it's landscaping We can get ideas, but we're not going to drill down to absolute specifics And that's the reason why I wanted to bring this type of method up with you today So the next part here is all about public outreach So I'm going to bring Jennifer back up to talk about different ways to get involved Great. Thank you, Josh So quick housekeeping, uh, Josh and I have stopped pausing because it doesn't appear that there's any interpretation happening So am I want to make sure that we're go we're understanding that we can just keep talking and not be pausing Okay, thank you Okay, so As you can tell from everybody here and the many people online Call how many people online do we have now? 45 that's great So the bridge is really important the public outreach process is really important and the agency in transportation Knows that this is a really important project for so many people in this region So they have made the public outreach component of this job a real priority So we're doing a variety of things to reach as many people as we can different avenues Whether it's technology interpretation translation events surveys, etc. That's just a few Because we do want as many voices and as many opinions involved and it's a great way for people to Meet their neighbors, and I'm sure there are people here that you haven't seen in a while And we want these meetings to be enjoyable and like like a community event in themselves That's the best kind of meeting This is all about being transparent and open We are reaching out to all of the groups that you could think of Working with The african americans living in vermont The vermont language justice project to make sure that our primary materials that are really important for everyone to understand Are put into different languages Sorry about that So just a quick overview of why the public Public outreach process is so important and how it's going to help us as the project team So we do have a project advisory committee It's 10 members of the community who represent different organizations and right now we're meeting with them about once a month We're reviewing what we're doing for the public outreach and they're giving us feedback Helping us improve if we're missing something Helping us overcome some barriers if we're having any communication barriers So we're very grateful to these 10 folks. I'm sure some of them are here this evening So I did see a few faces Public meetings, this is just the first one We plan to have many public meetings each one with a different topic So if you can come to all of them that would be great But we'll try to advertise what the topic will be so you know If it's something that would be of most interest to you But we'd love to see the same faces all the time and even more faces Community events we attended the farmers market in burlington and when new ski recently and had an amazing time Josh, I think had very detailed conversations with about 125 people who were very interested in the bridge and had a lot of questions So that was really a good time Door-to-door outreach, especially to community neighborhoods where english is not the first language We have been so fortunate to engage with al l v to Provide youth being involved in this project with youth in the community They speak two languages three languages sometimes even four languages and samuel who is in the back of the room has helped us Arrange that as well as eleni church Hill from the regional planning commission and we're so grateful Some of you got the postcard in the mail Yes Good Thank you. I'm so happy you did that Project website and as I said also translation and interpretation. So what does this do? This helps keeps us on track the more engaged all of you are the input that you can Give to us We will use all the input. We take it very seriously You're going to also help us identify impacts That maybe we aren't sure of or we Don't know the severity of them and you're going to help us from that input to Avoid or minimize the impacts And there's another way that you can help too. Is there any history buffs in the audience here? Knowing that the bridge is an element of the historic district in the area So if anyone wants to be involved in what's called being a consulting party, it's a transportation act. It's called being a It's called section 106. Have you ever heard of that? Let me know if you want to be involved in that and I'll connect you with the right people But that's another opportunity if you're interested in the history of the bridge and how it is an element of the historic district So a couple things We do have a website although as I said, we are reaching out to people in the old-fashioned way as well by using the mail Um on the website. We're trying to put all of the important project documents That's going to unfold and build over time We have software built into the website for these languages here So if there's anyone in the room that this is one of these languages is your primary language go to the website You'll see the icon at the top and there'll be very accurate translation of the material okay, um Really going to be a clearing house for information as the project moves on We also have another software program integrated in the website. I'm just going to call it pima for short It's going to help us know who we are reaching and it's going to help us Check ourselves. Where do we need to do outreach further in what communities and who we're hearing from And also this program pima Is where if you get if you submit a comment through the website It's going to come to me And you'll be put into the database and we'll get make sure that we get back to you very quickly on any of the Comments or questions that you have And that way we have a complete record of everything that happens over the next year or two So ways to stay informed you're all here. Thank you again. This is really amazing that You took time out of your at your evening to come here For those of you that came in a little bit late on the website, please sign up for email blasts We won't do too many you can unsubscribe at any time And also you're free to sign up on the paper outside Just put down your name and email and the only way only thing that that will be used for is just for these project updates nothing else We are going to attend events and also Just submit comments to us Give us good ideas and we'll get back to you and you'll help us like I said You're going to help us move the project forward and stay on track So there is a great event coming up that the agency event transportation is supporting I don't I haven't seen bruce wilson Is he here? So bruce runs art so wonderful and bruce and art so wonderful Are going to have an event this saturday from 10 to 6 on the wanouski side of the bridge Some of you may be familiar with the mural So art so wonderful is going to have artists there and they're going to be touching up the mural But they want the community members to really lead that there will be refreshments Somebody from the project team will be there to answer questions and to meet everyone. So we hope that you can attend We think it's going to be a fun time And so the mural will be touched up because the bridge will not be the construction won't start for a few years So we wanted to make it look nice Until the new bridge comes about and then bruce has a plan to put a new mural up on the new bridge. So All right with that i'll pass it off to josh So to kind of round things out here we've talked about what the projects are going to be How we might get there ways to stay involved and wanted to talk just a high level about the timeline I mentioned we're early in the project and we really are So it's a long timeline. We see up here on the screen for anybody who can see it in the audience Overall for the next couple years, we're going to be trying to get our arms around what this project should be And could be with your support That's going to last us sometime into the middle of 24 From that point on we've got to get through all of our environmental permitting Our right away negotiations and actually find the space and ability to build this project Sometime in the middle of 26 maybe early 26 We're going to be putting out what's called a request for proposals for contractors to actually bid on this project to build it From that point on they have a little bit of extra time to finish designed before they break ground Probably sometime in 27 Overall construction will probably last about two full years Followed by a little bit of site restoration and cleanup around the area as well So that's really a long time. We're talking almost about six or seven years from where we are now Till everything looks completely back to normal Groundbreaking again won't be for about three to four years though And then in terms of overall project cost I did mention much earlier on that there is a raise grant tied to this project So there was some success in getting some additional money just shy of 25 million and that Really ties us into a timeline. We're obligated to have that proposal Out by the middle of 26 in order for contractor to bid on to it So this project has money. It is moving forward and it has a schedule Surrounding it that's going to force it to move forward The overall project costs from a conceptual standpoint, which would include construction design right of way everything Involved is somewhere between 50 and 60 million for that bridge and that intersection And with that we're going to open it up for questions and I think we are going to Oh, yep Yep, absolutely. I think jennifer. Were you going to take this around and Because I'm I'm tied so So you don't have to take the microphone But if you wanted to I will walk and I thought we would just go front to back if anybody has a question here Um, my name is sleepy. I live in hickok street. Um I have kind of a lot of questions, but the last slide was really concerning Um, how can we as a city as a group of individuals help speed the product project along like How can we compress that timeline? If at all possible That's Yeah, so so many projects take two to four years to actually get from initial conceptualization into Uh out to contracting so it's not uncommon. This isn't anything completely unusual Yep It really is just a lot of effort getting into coordinating What's the right project and then sequentially working through getting your permits in place your right of way in place And getting out to bid So we are actively running a lot of these things in parallel to try to be able to beat the clock and get out even faster This is kind of the Ultimate deadline so I mentioned there's an obligation with the grants We're tied to a june 30th 2026 date and if we don't have a contract out we lose the money So we are actively advancing as fast as possible to beat the schedule This is kind of a worst-case schedule at the moment And then the question I really wanted to ask was um, what defines the scope of the project? Because you mentioned that it's divided into these two things the bridge and the intersection that I think is actually way more interesting Because that's where all the action is happening Um, how can we extend the boundaries of that intersection project actually because a large part of the backup that occurs on the bridge Uh comes when people kind of make that left turn onto the street where dominoes is to go towards the airport um and feel like you would that That bypass would benefit it from some intervention Yep, so you're you're asking If I'm from understanding right How to perhaps extend some of this project. There we go Yeah So we are we are trying to keep this project at a minimum, right? I mean if we keep adding more and more to the project it can take even longer to get out So we are trying to make something impactful happen within this type of boundary And yes, they were defined and scoped separately and we are currently working to stitch those together But you should have heard a lot of similar trends with a focus on bike pedicombinations Improve safety improved mobility things like that They had a lot of common features and a lot of common goals and we're making those now work together as we move forward As it relates to barrett street, um The current concept it might be a little hard to see up here I encourage you to take a look at the easel too. We are putting a left turn lane in there And that's where it's going to be signalized as well Some of those graphics that you see again Very conceptual not engineered yet. We have not figured out what those turnpockets or cuba's need to be Do we want to take your question from online if there's one? Great. So so for those Do I need to repeat that? So the bridge project construction will not overlap with the manewski main street bridge Main street project Thank you Anybody over here question And we'll go with this row next Hi, so, um, i'm cindy cook my question. I think is for v-trans I think everybody in this room has been over that bridge It's a scary experience And you just showed us some fairly stunning photos I always take a moment of great to have a moment of gratitude when I cross the bridge safely now The prospect of seven more years with that bridge is kind of concerning and I'm wondering Our do your engineers say that it has 70 more years of safe life left in it Well seven to the to the completion of the construction Yep, so I can answer that and if you guys want to jump in by all means So so the bridge is safe It still has the full load carrying capacity from when it was first designs So it's completely safe to continue crossing The bridge is inspected every two years to check for further deterioration and make a determination if something has changed But it's currently safe and there's no reason to believe it won't last another seven years until it needs to be replaced Yep, I think carolyn wants to chime in Quick but full question. Yes or no You do okay one most of us probably do use every day if not multiple times So a little different Well, I did use it for six months this past spring every day The three days I was I was teaching a class. I understand It's pretty scary that it's only being inspected every two years Well, well if if our bridge inspection team thought it needed to be inspected every year they would do that So there are every bridge greater than 20 feet in the state of Vermont Every two years and then there's some bridges that have been identified to be inspected every year So and if the city said to me or to uh, spencer howard the head of our bridge inspection, hey, you know what? We need to have this inspected game They will go out and inspect it The city said any concerns we would inspect that But every bridge in the state is every two years Great. Thank you carolyn So anyone out in the hallway steven. Can you just mention to people that there are seats up here if anybody wants to come inside? Okay, anybody else over in this row and then we're going to go right here and then we'll get to this row Okay, go around And then we got to get somebody online. I forgot about that. You want to wait do you want to go online first? Thank you I'm jonathan chapel sokel. You've mentioned that the um that there was a strong focus on Cyclists and pedestrians could you just talk a little bit more about what the current thinking is? on the pedestrian paths and the cycling paths on the on the Um on the bridge because it looked to me like they were shared Um And would they be shared on both sides? Is there anything to protect pedestrians? There's a bike track that comes off on riverside when it would make sense to make that to continue as a bike path But could the other side possibly just be for pedestrians? And i'm going to ask unless you're definitely opposed to this that everybody talking to the microphone because It's very hard for the people in the back to hear. So thank you Great, so so the question was about Bikes and pedestrian safety on the bridge and the shared use paths that we're showing out there as well And how that all interacts and it's it is a question. We've heard a little bit about from different folks in the community So yes the the image i'm showing down here in the bottom right in fact is what we call a shared use path for both bikes And pedestrians it's 12 feet wide So it's considerably wider than anything that's out there today and including the riverside Path that's out there as well We are looking into different safety measures to improve safety and keep separation between bikes and pedestrians I know the you know the lakefronts walkway down in burlington. They've got a essentially a dash line down the middle like a roadway That's an option for us to help try to keep people on each side. There's other solutions like that But frankly that's one of the biggest challenges of merging the intersection and the bridge together Is figuring out how to get people from either the road on a bike to a shared use path Or from a sidewalk to that shared use path and make sure everybody's safe So that is a huge focal point and something we are going to look into more And then online here, I guess maybe i'm not familiar with the term continuous sidewalks Um Oh, it's talking about a okay, so raised sidewalks so essentially like a like a speed hump almost We have not looked into those it's something we can talk about as a project team and look into So we have not started looking at parking for anybody in particular on this project as we've started to put these two pieces together So we can look to see what space is available for specific bike accommodations Yep, and that's so so the question was about Lane width and increasing speed so the existing lanes out there today are 10 and a half feet wide We're only making them 11 feet wide to come up to current standards. So six inches more It's not going to be a huge increase. Nothing too noticeable. And in fact One of the big differences is we are going to be including separation barriers between the traffic and the bikes and pads Having that will actually naturally act as a calming feature to slow people down when you drive against something right up against your car You will naturally slow down So yes, the lanes are getting wider, but we're not we don't think it's going to increase speed Okay questions here Here you go. My name is michael. We're resident and wanouski If you can stay on that slide actually Just to confirm it looks like there's a curb that rises to protect either the pedestrian or the bike lanes Is that am I seeing that correctly? I could come up and point to it Yeah, yes. Yes. Yes. So is that a sort of guaranteed feature of this bridge? Sure I think I'd ask a similar question that I asked earlier, which is how many of you have biked across this bridge You know, it's something that I do often with my three-year-old daughter on the front of my bike Safeties are concerned. I think we know from studies that Separating a bike lane from a or a car travel lane increases bike usage significantly That to me seems like the bare minimum of what we should be talking about I think galvanized railings or fencing is something that the bike community would love Arguably the pedestrian community as well Um, I don't know if this has been discussed So that's a guarantee. There will be barrier separation between bikers Okay I mean, that's terrific. That's what we need as a community. Um, similarly, I'm curious Uh, I don't know where it's in relation to this slide, but you brought up sort of contractor based Decision making on the end use of the bridge End functionality of the bridge. I'm curious if this divided Lane could come up In this capacity Meaning if the contractor doesn't think they can do it Or do it profitably If the contractor ends up steering that sort of decision making Thank you So the question was more around we talked about given the contractor a little bit more control on the project to help Keep cost and schedule down to a minimum There are going to be guy. I have the word guidelines up there for lack of a better term We're basically going to be telling the contractor the boundaries in which they need to operate So a barrier guaranteed Can I tell you today that it's going to be specifically One and a half feet wide versus one foot three or two feet wide? No, that might be up to the contractor Or if we all come together and try to figure out some sort of pattern or appearance of that concrete railing Maybe the contractor wants to change that appearance the functionality and the safety is not something we compromise on It's the final touches of what it's going to look like a little bit and how they get to that final product if that helps So we definitely encourage it so the so the question was about the likelihood of this contractor being a Vermont based contractor It's definitely something we we encouraged. I know we're going to be reaching out to what's called agc the Association of general contractors. I believe We're going to be reaching out to that in vermont's to really make them aware of this project and try to get them Encourage them to go after this. This is a very large project So it's not a guarantee it'll be a Vermont based contractor But there's certainly going to be opportunities to subcontract with the primary as well You want that final bridge Maybe I went through that too quickly. It's not necessarily the hands of chance that we're doing this with There are very strict guidelines in contractual language that if that contractor Regardless of being in vermont or not They still have to follow the exact same requirements contractually and if it doesn't meet the contract They will have to remove it at their own cost and replace it So there will be very strict guidelines surrounding safety and functionality things we talk about for improvements It's just again how they go about Constructing it still within our specifications to meet material requirements and quality But just how they go about putting it together Adjusting dad caroliner I usually don't need a mic And if people know me they know that So we have used design build contracting on several projects In the in the state of vermont where we've had a consultant and a contractor Do these projects and they're usually The consultant will does all that design work working with the contractor to build that and usually It doesn't matter whether it's an out-of-state contractor in state in state contractor. They do what They're expected to based on those guidelines and all that kind of stuff and we've had a lot of success With design build the richman checkered house bridge project was a design build project where we widened the truss We had several down on 91 And brattle burl the bridge and milton that was design build on the interstate. So we've done a lot of this This isn't something new. We just haven't done one for a while. It's been a few years since we've actually put out a design build project So Which is true, but the richman checkered house bridge project that was a historic truss That's the one that you see off the interstate where it was 20 feet wide and we wind it for So the bicyclists and pedestrians could eventually use route two. So that was um, Very similar No, it did not but Right, but in this particular instance this if we say that we need that separation that is what's going to happen here. It's just like Josh said whether it's concrete Railing, you know, that's some of the stuff one of the things that you know, he did mention. This is an historic bridge So he mentioned the term or you mentioned the term 106 So we have to meet certain guidelines from a historic perspective as well with this structure so there may be some things that we have to do to um Kind of keep that historic integrity of the whole area No, we're not going to do that Great thank you, carol. Are we on are we on an online one? I lost track So so the question was about a double-decker bridge or building one off to the east and essentially leaving it there Is what I gather we have not looked into a double-decker bridge. Those would be very costly and Probably obstructive to the views coming down the hillside. So we have not looked into that Looking off to the east is something we are starting to consider a little bit. We are looking into the feasibility I mentioned a lot of those constraints onsite a lot of mill buildings a lot of residences It's not real easy to do so we are looking into it But we're not in any sort of shape to actually say if it's feasible Okay, any other questions here? You'll be next going to go with you. There you go Hi, uh, my name is tom and uh, I'm wondering have you considered uh the use of e-bikes and scooters because in that shared lane that Normally, uh gas powered vehicles will be in you're going to have people walking and people with kids and carriages And e-bikes going, you know 28 miles an hour and scooters and Right now it's a complete mess on on like the burlington bikeway along the lake It's you know, it's a free-for-all and Are you going to separate motorized? non automotive vehicles from pedestrians and human powered bicycles So it's a great question about uh consideration of e-bikes and similar devices one wheel scooters whatever it might be Coincidentally that came up through our online platform And now jennifer mentioned we can take comments through the website That same concern has come up recently and it hasn't been something we've really considered to date So it is something we're going to start focusing in on more You know the the original bridge that's out there today for anybody who don't doesn't know was built for trolleys You know, they never anticipated having four lanes of traffic out there was meant to carry trolleys So things change over time and we adapt and we make what's out there work Um, we're at a point where we can consider a little bit more for the future and try to plan for those and we're starting to look into it Fault quick follow-up my personal experience is can I go talk on that the bikeway of parallel to riverside? Yep, and a couple of inches of people Okay And Yep completely understood that speed can be a huge factor out there Not that it makes it a hundred percent any better, but I do know these shared use paths We're talking about will be a little bit wider, but it's still something we are going to look into for safety Okay, we'll go back to the audience And don't worry people in the back. We are making our way there quickly Hi, my name is Tom I you mentioned that the bridge will be there for a hundred years and I'm wondering How much consideration is going to be given to the aesthetics of the bridge? Are there any preliminary ideas on what kind of style it will be and what's going to give it that kind of Nice look that'll make it fit into the character of Winooski and our little downtown Is there going to be is there budget constraints around that or when does that happen in the process? So the question was all about aesthetics on the bridge and budgetary considerations and how it's going to look and feel Frankly, that's part of what we're going to come back to you folks on So we're going to be coming back at some other future date to talk more about aesthetics I know carolin was mentioning a little bit about There are going to be some things that we might have to satisfy permitting requirements in terms of the look and feel But to the extent practical, we're going to be actually coming back to you folks to figure out what you want it to look like So we have a pretty good sense that it's going to be a bridge that looks similar to what's out there in terms of Kind of just the nuts and bolts But then when we start talking about rails and lights and I know at the farmers market We had people suggest putting little bump outs and benches on the bridge or lighting or There's a lot of different ideas that have been put forth that we can start talking about we don't know where that's going to take us yet Yep You want to take one online Yeah, the the the whole traffic detour is still something we're looking into Again, we're not taking traffic detours lightly and we know there's a lot of traffic out there as well So we are going to be looking into the different locations and neighborhood crossings to see if offsite improvements are necessary That could be simple signing all the way to actual temporary pavement type of improvements. We're not sure what these look like yet Okay, anybody else in this room? Yes, sir Hi, my name is bob and I have two quick questions one is did you look at putting a circle in on the burlington side? to slow down traffic and get people and Get rid of all the waste associated with waiting for lights And for people zooming down colchester avenue trying to make a green light and zipping across the bridge And the second question is the original bridge in in 1927 was taken out by by a rain event We just had a rain event. What is the capacity for rain? And the stream to underneath this bridge. Are you guaranteeing for the next hundred years That we're going to be okay and not have it wash out All right, excellent. So so kind of two separate questions there The first one was about the intersection just south of the bridge And if a roundabout was looked at there and that was part of the scoping study Geometrically it it essentially does not fit There's not enough room there between the historic buildings that border colchester And that's nestled in between colchester and riverside and then the river itself So trying to physically get a roundabout in there just really doesn't work without incredible costs Yes, I think I can Maybe not So there's one rate and do my best here one right in the corner here of riverside and colchester The couple here along Colchester and mean and then as you start getting further back from the bridge. I am less Aware, but I know there are a number and they're all well documented in these reports So if you want to flip open these reports, they're on the website and they fully document all the historic structures in burlington and winewski Uh for the second question about the hydraulic capacity So yes, you're right that the 1927 bridge got wiped out by a flood and Apparently they even blew up the mill building at the corner to make hydraulic capacity work during that event which is kind of interesting to me That bridge was substantially lower in elevation than this current one So for anybody who was out there at the bridge during the recent rain events You saw there was plenty of room between the girders and the river The parking lots themselves got a little bit of water in them, but the bridge was unaffected We would be going back with a similar roadway elevation and similar low point on the bridge So we shouldn't have any sort of significant hydraulic implications Beyond that the river itself if you've seen it with the dam water drawn down. It's all leadge. It's all rock It's not rotable So our better our foundations would be founded right on that as well Can you say that last part again? got it so part of this process The the little piece that's going to be built downstream that I've mentioned is going to be hugged up right against the dam That is a physical obstruction. That's not going away and not something we can influence So we are constrained by that dam location from being able to build further downstream Beyond that we're not looking to increase any sort of additional separation provided additional bridge width for further separation either Anybody else down this row? This way. Yes, sir Hi, my name is ben. I just wanted to come back to the Concern raised about the safety of pedestrians and cyclists on like multi-use paths I'm wondering about like raised cycle paths specifically or vice versa like raised sidewalks or pedestrians And if that is a you know a feature that that v-trans could say like this is non-negotiable Or is that something that falls under the design build like it's up to the contractor So the question about Using a raised sidewalk in addition with kind of the bike lanes that are out there It's something we can consider But if you're going to be taking Essentially two barriers and putting bikes and pedestrians in between it putting something raised out there Would essentially create a tripping or a kind of a fall hazard So we'd have to think carefully about how we'd go about Working through a solution like that just how we have to work through some other safety considerations as well But again with the design build piece to it if there's anything we decide that is necessary for the bridge related to safety and Functionality we will tell the contractor what to do It's just when it comes to other subtle features So if we thought that a raised sidewalk was the most safe and prudent solution We would tell the contractor to do that So we can look more into it Oh So it sounds like a similar comment that we've received here tonight about pedestrians and bicyclists using a shared use path together Thank you Okay Anybody else here? Okay, have you ladies? Okay, here we go Thank you. Uh, my name is nick. I live in Burlington. I cross this bridge about four days a week Usually on a bike. Um I'm concerned about two things one Overall concern is that this bridge design which is essentially just a 20 percent larger version of the existing one Locks into place a land use pattern that is inconsistent with the potential that this area has This is the two densest and some of the largest communities in the entire state This is the most direct path between them and we're just continuing to re-optimize it for The car traffic and when we have an opportunity to imagine much more And I really think I'm kind of disappointed that at what I'm seeing here More specifically, uh, I like to reiterate what I've heard from a lot of other people about the shared use paths on the other side Which literally marginalized Cyclists and pedestrians, but not just cyclists and pedestrians literally everyone else who's not in a car or a bus or a truck Um, that includes people on mobility scooters On electric scooters e-bikes, which we all know cause a lot of concern I you know, I'm usually crossing this bridge and getting around town using a bike but I share the concerns of folks like tom who Don't want to share space with with me and me going You know at a like 15 20 miles per hour faster than him um That's not fair to them and I just see that this bridge is reinforcing that kind of design at Uh a time when we really need to be increasing the dignity and the appeal of modes that are not getting around in a car Nope, I appreciate that comment. Something we can definitely take back with us and look into further. So Yeah, laura Hi, I'm laura wheelock with the city of burlington public works. I'm one of the Um, municipal members helping advise on this committee I do want to point out one thing that the municipalities feel strongly about is as these barriers go back on the bridge We're looking for the most flexibility. So while this is the lane configuration We need today as our modes do shift We might have the opportunity to move those barriers and reallocate the space on the bridge To the other mode types and so we are looking for that flexibility in our 100 year bridge Do you have another online question or yeah My name is peter. I live in wanooski and I uh I ride the across that bridge every day on a bicycle I'm wondering if you could uh Tell us a little bit more about the way Bikes would get From the traffic circle onto the bridge Right now the traffic circle has no real place for bicyclists And then you have to go down a short street and then hit the uh sidewalk It's it's it's really a mess. It's as many people have said, but I I'm wondering how Whether there will be uh bike lanes on the Um real bike lanes on the traffic circle that will lead to Whatever kind of pedestrian bike path you have Excellent. So the question was about transitioning the bike lanes from the bridge to blend into whatever's in wanooski In terms of sidewalk infrastructure is there today that that is something that we're focusing on We haven't come up with a perfect solution yet Again, we're kind of very early and just trying to come to people to understand what's critical Before we start putting pencil to paper So we know that's an area that we really need to look at to make sure everybody's safe for that transition And it's something we will go back and look at further So my plan is to stay with the rhythm and work my way to the back of the room for the people who have Been sitting and waiting and then if there's still more questions, I know you and you sir, then we'll start from the front again Okay, thank you Okay Oh, thank you Hi, my name is chuck. I walk across the bridge back and forth every day And I like the the idea of a double decker was interesting Structurally it looked like it'd be impossible due to load load bearing But what if You've reserved the lower level for traffic cars automobiles trucks buses you have an upper deck for Pedestrians and you can separate out bicyclists They're ingress and egress To the upper deck Is a lot more simple than it would be for cars And that way you could have three lanes either way on the lower deck In other words put your upper deck for pedestrian and bicycles There'd be less load bearing less structure involved And you and the ingress and egress would be more simple Thank you So so the the question was about using a double decker system for both vehicles and pedestrians and perhaps separating them vertically versus horizontally We've talked a lot about there's there's quite a few constraints out here The dam the buildings the historic structures Everything about it Frankly going back with the double decker system here is going to be very very complex and would have significant right-of-way implications It would have a profound change to the overall area. So I'm not positive a double decker system is going to be something that's Feasible within the area without massive disruptions But which we can still consider looking at separation though Yep, so the so the question is about the impact to gmt during your closure and what happens to the transit routes and congestion That's something we haven't started coordinating with gmt on to really understand what that type of issue looks like It is something we are going to be actively engaging with them on directly though to understand what that means and how we can mitigate I'm with gmt and i'm on the gmt board and the sooner that you start talking to gmt the better right now Our labor pool is impacted and so freeing up new Buses to hall mall people around is if you said you needed to do it next year. It's just no way it would happen Okay, i'm gonna pick up where I left off which is down here Uh, drill colada vermont state walking college. I'm coming to echo some thoughts earlier about pedestrian dignity in particular Um, even with and bicycle dignity. I personally bike commute, but I've learned to really advocate for walking as a mode of transportation lately Um with that current layout the concrete divider or whatever we settle on certainly would provide some physical protection But man still like walking next to a truck going 25 if they're if they're if they're obeying the speed limit a truck a bus a car Motorcycle going 25 miles an hour I we when my girlfriend and I walked to dinner we have to cut off all conversation for the length of the bridge It feels like i'm treated Pretty pretty lowly. Um, so i'm really looking uh to see if there's any way to We had brought up the double decker bridge And completely separate pedestrian paths. I've seen in some places where there's like a marsupial bridge It's not a full-on double decker Um, and I'm kind of thinking of the wanewski side where we already have a river walk and potentially maybe there could be like a little Pedestrian branch that goes in this direction down to the river walk um I'm really just looking for things for dignities. So, uh, Given my statement is if there's any questions you can extract from that and if you want to answer that would be great You're gonna answer that josh So the question was that uh, really really If I understood correctly that feeling of walking next to cars zipping by and really feeling a bit uneasy about it So the question was kind of surrounding. What else can we do? And I believe what you're referring to with the marsupial type of bridge is actually getting the sidewalk kind of tucked under a little bit Yep so The wanewski side naturally Opens that door right there's a path underneath the bridge over there. You could do something like that Um, the burlington side, we haven't gone down that discussion path in terms of figuring out if we can do something similar And then we'd have to look at types of head room and safety of putting a path way down there as well The nice thing about having the paths at the bridge deck level is everything is very visible If you start tucking it down underneath you need all sorts of different lighting and you have different safety precautions as well To consider so it does have a different Mixed feeling depending on who you ask But something we can talk about as a team Thank you for your patience Hi, my name is lucia and I um, I'm wondering a little bit more about the funding I understood that there is an about 25 million dollar federal grant And then I thought I heard that the total project would be about 50 to 60 million And i'm wondering where the rest of that funding comes from I should have wore my sneakers Yep, no, a great question and and I glazed over that during the presentation But this upper this upper chart here if it's legible from back there The project funding is a split of 80 federal 10 state and then 5 for each of the cities themselves So it will be made up from that that pool the project Yes Okay, we'll finish us with this row Hi, thank you. Um, I just want to echo a lot of the comments I've heard tonight Particularly, I I want to echo the comments Uh About what seems to me that this project is really just a hundred year dedication to accommodating more car traffic Um, I think, you know, we have to basically as a society if we want to address a thousand different issues shift mode towards bus bike and transit Um and walking excuse me And I was reading through the report and and I'm a little bit confused because Looking at the alternatives. My favorite was alternative one, which was pretty inexpensive compared to this I would have a much lower impact on taxpayers it seems And all it did was basically add a separate bridge for bikes And pedestrians so you get to keep the sidewalks on the existing bridge You get a separate path for bicycles and you do a few cosmetic, uh, you know, it's not Not it's not negligible funds, but it's Not 50 million dollars either. Um, and that preserves the bridge in good condition for at least 50 years That's what the consultant said And that's a healthy state for at least 50 more years Above its current lifespan. So we already know it's not going to expire for another seven years. They're not worried about that That's another 50 years on top of that. That's almost I don't know. I don't know where that gets us, but that's part of the way towards a hundred year bridge Which is what we're talking about. So I don't really understand why Basically what we're we're not even talking about that. We're talking about Doing a whole other thing That I understand what you're saying, but basically this is going to induce more traffic into downtown And to downtown burlington and to places where people live We can't walk across the street and have a conversation with our partners because there's so much traffic. There's so much noise Um, it's not sitting well with me And I don't understand why we're here. And so it's still talking about the other alternatives So if you want to answer some of those questions, I'd appreciate it. Thank you Yep, so so the Questions surrounded. Why aren't we going back and looking at the other alternatives a little bit closer? We are moving forward with the bridge replacement project. That's part of the federal money That was tied to this we can look at ways to improve safety and bicyclists in doing so But we're not going back and looking at doing additional rehabilitation to the existing one I do want to stress though. I know Laura kind of touched on this I kind of touched on it a little bit as well That existing bridge that's out there was never meant for four lanes of traffic It was never meant for the amount of pedestrian traffic either necessarily It did morph over time to accommodate what we have today And when we look at that cross section that was up on the screen with the different lanes We are looking for mobility and how we can make that a flexible system going forward with different modes of transportation So we're not locked into this forever As our modes of transportation change that bridge can be adapted to meet those as well Okay, I'm going to still work my way to the back of the room and then we'll start at the beginning again So just want to get the rhythm. Yes, anyone right here um, hi My name is Carlos and I usually ride my bike around that's like my favorite modes of transportation Um, I appreciate like all the focus that you're putting on pedestrian and cycling infrastructure I think that's very important Um, again, this is not really a question. It's more like a comment. I guess or the input And yeah, it's just like basically really bad to just go in on riverside avenue on your bike and then The multi-use path ends and you're in a very narrow sidewalk. You have to like Basically compete your way with pedestrians whereas the cars have I think it's 60 feet of of Like, you know of way right now whereas we have Less than 10 feet for pedestrians and cyclists There's also I don't remember seeing like any numbers for people that cycling on that bridge And like all of these like we can change these from that design. Um There are also different alternatives that we can use such as On like both only lanes I think there are like that that's an alternative that I would like to see for example Like to put it on one side of the lane like on the I guess the furthest one on the left would be or on the right And that would like reduce traffic and like we know that buses can carry way more people than like a Like a regular car link and and the same goes for pedestrian for a for a multi-use path like Like we know Um, I also wanted to I mean you guys are designing this you probably know how induce demand work Like that's not something that I should be explaining here right now Um, yeah, that's it. Thanks Excellent so so the question was If I if I kind of captured the the comment correctly It was about the interface between riverside and the sidewalks and the widths and Trying to make sure we're balancing the needs for everybody out there Um Yes, we're putting back four lanes on the bridge. They're only getting six inches wider each That six foot sidewalk is doubling in width to 12 feet to try to improve that accommodation The blending from the bridge onto riverside is something we are going to further study We know that that transition from the bridge to the approaches is something that's critical for safety So that is something that's going to be looked at a lot more so And then oh and then the other question or comment you had was about a dedicated bus lane So again, um right now our focus is actually getting the bridge itself built with the four lanes additional studies or long-term future changes could Reuse one of those lanes for a bus only lane versus the four striped lanes next row Hi, my name is Collin. I live in Burlington. Um My biggest concern with this bridge any bridge redesign is going to be vehicle speed The circulator and mnuski cars drive really fast. There's a reason it's called the racetrack They come onto the bridge. They're still going fast. They come up riverside. They're still going fast So you can put crosswalks in but that doesn't mean that it's going to be safe um And as others have pointed out It's great to have separated bike pet infrastructure. Though. I also agree that you should have space for bikes and pedestrians They're not the same mode and they shouldn't be treated the same um So I would like to see more traffic calming on the Burlington side of the bridge in that intersection that I know it's up for redesign I know the circulator is not in scope, but uh, I hope someone from mnuski's here and It's taking note that the circulator should be up for grabs because that place needs a redesign. Thank you Excellent. So so the question was more about traffic calming in the area to get those speeds of vehicles down on the bridge Trying to do something in the intersections to accommodate that um Certainly changing that intersection getting it down from the number of signals to one will help improve those conflict points And the crossings doesn't directly help with speed But it is something that we can further look into geometrically to see if there's a way to handle that a little bit um With us being tucked with just a bridge in an intersection. It's hard to control what's happening at that that Rotary if you will too. So It is something we can look at and consider as we move forward with the project Yep, absolutely. I believe that might have been a question earlier too. So the vehicle lanes are getting slightly wider right six inches wider The striped lanes are getting six inches wider. You're right There is a little bit of buffer between the cars and the barrier we're putting out there Potentially but putting up a barrier and driving by one for anybody who's driven through like a construction zone You have the barriers hugged up against you. It naturally feels uncomfortable and you tend to go a little bit slower That is a type of calming feature and we can look at other ones as well to try to reduce speed as well Correct I never said we made it tighter. Yep. Any questions call? Okay you Anybody here? There you go Hi, um, I'm sarah and I live in Winooski right by waterworks in the castades and take the bus and bike over the bridge a lot I'm curious and I think you spoke briefly about it of what the process will be like early on in construction For the temporary walking path encyclists So I'm curious about how much you have thought, you know, what what has gone into that so far as far as planning Um, how long will it actually not be usable at all for pedestrians and cyclists? I know that that's probably going to be a rough guess So and then my third question is you said there's going to be multiple meetings on different topics And I really think that that topic should be one of those meetings on the temporary use Thanks Yep, so so if I understood it's kind of a three-part question about the timing of this little section being built How long it'll be in use and then if there's any pedestrian outages associated with it, okay So that little piece is probably going to be one of the first things built on the project We need to both get people over there as well as all the utilities on the bridge and there's quite a few of them We need to get the utilities and the people essentially out of the way for the contractor to come through and build the rest of the project So we'll be very early on and that will become part of the permanent bridge when it's all said and done So for all intensive purposes, it will look and feel like the permanent bridge As far as pedestrian outages Really for the duration of construction. We're looking at maintaining pedestrians across that piece for the duration There will be a very specific time point in there when the two pieces of the bridge come together That it's physically not safe for people to be out there and there will be construction workers running around trying to get the bridge complete Don't have a time frame on what that looks like, but we're not talking long term We're talking maybe a half day and we're talking maybe overnight work for that Haven't figured that out entirely, but it will not be a long-term impact for that part I think I got all your questions Okay Oh, yes a meeting just yes. So good point So I mentioned we will be back for additional public meetings with additional details I'm hearing a lot about pedestrian safety. It sounds like that's probably something we're going to come back and talk a lot more about Whether it's specific to that little piece of the bridge and how it gets constructed. Maybe we can throw that in there as well Yes, there will be small shoulders. They're going to be about two feet wide is what we currently have planned Okay, I think we just have a couple more questions in the back and then I'm going to start in the front again Anyone over here anyone standing up question? Okay Hi, my name is uh, Eli. I live in winoski. Um, I guess my question is about Necessity for four lanes. Uh, why is that still A necessity requirement and where does that stem from? So the question was about The requirement for four lanes and where it stems from Really with this project, we're replicating the existing conditions We're going back and providing the same accommodations and trying to provide better access for bikes and peds In doing so as we've mentioned Maybe those four lanes aren't necessary in the future. It could be repurposed That's great in the same way that a trolley system was taken off the bridge to open it up for different modes of transportation as well So we're providing the bridge width out there. We're going to open it back up to four lanes day one Maybe that looks different 25 years in the future Thank you so much for being patient Thank you. Um So I was involved early on with the design so I bear some of the Responsibility for what I'm hearing, but that was a while ago and I think there have been some changes What I wanted to share is my name is Sharon busher and I live in burlington. I was on the city council and um Was involved in in the original design and selecting this design, etc Um, I want to make sure that people know that one of the things that was paramount was pedestrian and bicycle safety because That was void. It didn't exist and and so I'm listening tonight knowing that We didn't really do a good job in that design and there was a discussion about having a separate bridge for pedestrians and bicyclists and I believe as I recall and I don't have perfect recall that it was it just was too much money to do both However, I things have changed somewhat and there's more of a dedication to bike lanes and I think that I was happy to hear you say that there'll be more time spent on listening to what comments were made and trying to address the bicycle and pedestrian safety factors that still exist even with the new design So I I just wanted I'm glad that you're going to try to figure out solutions to this because I walk I don't bike I never had good balance. So even when I was young. So I don't bike but But I respect everybody who does bike and I think you know the direction we hope to go in is walking biking And public transportation and some cars. I have a car. I'll admit it and I use it Um to get from here to there, but I walk also and I feel at risk when I'm right close to speeding cars It was scary when we did Riverside Avenue You need to give some distance from the cars and the people And then you need to separate bikes from people also Pedestrians and bicyclists are they're two different beasts. So anyways, I wanted to say that the second thing I wanted to say was someone mentioned about The impact of the flood and water and you mentioned that this bridge is higher But I'm concerned about the amount of water and the strength of water and so I I'm not an engineer. I don't know. But I think that I'd like to be reassured that the structure itself can withstand The future because I don't think what I don't think people know what a hundred-year storm is anymore I think what we're experiencing is, you know, a hundred-year storm is now a 10-year or a five-year storm So I really feel like that is something that I would like to be reassured and see some information about And then the last thing is something that is only for a certain population. There is the mill street population It's a wonderful little microcosm with small businesses and residents and they're They're kind of trapped in all of this and I want to make sure that we address Them so that we don't stifle small businesses. I value them a lot and we don't Make it impossible for the people that live and work there to get in and out of their place Of of either residents or business. So those are my comments And thank you so much for tonight. I feel really reassured that you're really reaching out to the public Did you want to address that and then we'll start in the front Particularly the water flood Yep, so I can just weigh in. Thank you for the comments. Um, yes, the bike and pedestrian safety as we've we've heard from many people Very big interests out there. We are going to be looking at safety improvements More so than what we flashed here on screen today. So that will be something The hydraulics. Yes, we go through a robust hydraulic analysis to understand what types of water movements are coming through there We look at different flood events. We know resiliency is a big topic right now and trying to plan for the future and more water coming That's not lost on us. It will all be engineered analyzed and robust enough for this bridge to last from any hydraulic flood that we're looking at I lost the last piece there and mill street. Thank you Yes, mill street residents. Yes, we we understand they are kind of Locked in the middle of this overall project. We will absolutely maintain access to their properties throughout construction What that entirely looks like we don't have quite yet envisioned But we understand the implications to those those parcels in particular As well as all the other local businesses when we start talking about closures to traffic as well We're starting over Oh, did you have another question that I miss you I'm sorry That's why I was wondering. I thought I saw another hand I apologize. Yeah Well, I guess I guess I have some questions More just comments. My name is Ryan. I think Uh, a lot of my comments will just like resonate with what has already been said But I think I think The necessity for four lanes I think could be disputed. I think it could be less than that or even like Mixed like mixed lanes like bus lanes and emergency lanes could have like their own lane But maybe reducing or changing types of traffic because I think The wanouski circle Burlington coming down into it and this bridge being the choking point I think it's really important in your 100 year plan To have it be as beneficial for those areas as possible and not Just beating what isn't benefiting those areas right now I think if you can make the circle a wonderful place to be and it totally could be it could be such an absolute gem I already think it is. It's wonderful. I love it If you could just give it water to feed it make some more Easier ways to walk easier ways to cycle easier ways for other types of transportation because there's more than just that Uh, I think it's really really important and I think the most important thing is people live here It's a very dense place and I think making it good for the people who participate in it Economically and just going to the shops going to all different restaurants and stuff like that and for the people that live there I think that is What is paramount make it a nice place to be? I think it could definitely be that and I don't want this opportunity to be missed I think it's important So I was wondering if there's any sort of like traffic calming if there is any sort of like pedestrian or cycling like raised sidewalks and stuff like that Just stuff like that where it would be not so car first because it definitely is car first and that to me is just a big problem economically Being there and just how the environment is Yeah, I think that's all I have Thank you Great. Thanks. Thanks for the comments talking about the four lanes and the pedestrians and everything Sounds like a lot of the same comments we're hearing from the rest of the audience So it's certainly something we're going to go back and take a harder look at to see what we can do Appreciate that Yep, so the current speed limit out there is 25 miles an hour and will be the same after construction is complete We don't intend to change that We can look into calming traffic Traffic calming measures as we've talked about here tonight I don't anticipate anything will be put in place until this new bridge is also in place. However, we will start from the beginning Yes, sir I think it was a little harsh on the gentleman earlier, but I think he brings up a really excellent point It would be good before the next meeting if The people on your team actually Navigated the intersections leading into and out of the bridge in all the different ways that everybody here in this room Navigates those intersections that's biking and that's walking Those intersections are extremely treacherous and it will open your mind if you're not a daily user And I mean No, seriously But I will go with you guys as well Absolutely, and you got to go and rush hour because it is it's it's scary And I think that will be extremely helpful in informing your decision making and setting the guidelines for the contractors um And and coming up with better ideas and then just to tack on to what other people have said A dedicated bus lane, I believe is going to be extremely important and that should be set out from the very beginning That's not something that we should Worry about implementing later. It should be from the inception because this is the most used Uh Bus line and maybe the gentleman from GMT. You can correct me if I'm wrong, but The bus line coming from Winooski is the most used bus line in the entire state So we have the most to gain From expediting its service across the bridge into and out of Winooski into and out of Burlington Thank you No, I appreciate that I appreciate the offer to bike and walk the areas with us too So we'll look into probably taking you up on that as it relates to the bus lane We do need to coordinate further with GMT to understand We want to make sure there's a benefit there, you know, are there current delays in the buses getting across the bridge and with that type of Lane configuration be a benefit and if so to what extent so it's something we can definitely look into as we get our coordination here in the near future Yep, so we haven't started looking into different transit line options It's something we are going to start coordinating with in the GMT here in the future But we have not started going down that coordination process So just a quick show of hands. How many more questions do we have? Okay Hi, my name is connor. I'm a resident of Winooski Two things one. I do have a bone to pick uh with the fact that it's called the burlington winooski bridge project instead of the winooski bridge that burlington bridge project, but I digress um I guess like I know it's a very early stage, but I'm I guess like to like bring us back to like the 30 000 foot Um, I'm genuinely curious what are the maybe like top three concerns that aot has for this project's You know conception and construction Great so so the question was more about what are the three biggest risks that we have as kind of a design team going forward Hadn't really thought about the three biggest ones Obviously us working through the schedule and getting our permits and right away in place to actually deliver this project in the first place Is a huge challenge. There's a lot of things to consider here a lot of competing constraints a lot of different voices But we still have an obligation to make sure we hit specific time frames before we lose money and then the project gets delayed I don't know how long So making sure we work through this type of process hear the needs be able to come back and forth and actually iterate on that Still hit our permitting requirements and still hitting our right away requirements to me is probably the biggest risk Um, there's always risk during construction about things you don't know That's always just something that's out there and then finally at the end of the day It's really putting back a bridge that doesn't necessarily meet your needs Right mean that's why we're here tonight. We want to come to you and get your input We want to hear about what we need to change and if we get it wrong That's a risk so Anyone else in this row? Yes So I think you'll agree that about 80 percent of the comments tonight have to do with safety noise and multimodal transportation Uh, given that I'm wondering how you or the plan dictates Dedicating six additional feet to motorists You'll notice that not a single person here tonight has said they needed to cross the bridge in their car A half a second faster Yep, good question. So the question was about Essentially adding six inches to the lanes plus the two foot shoulder on the outside Really those numbers just meet current standards for the lane configuration out there It's something we can go back and take another look at but those are the current state standards that we use across the board everywhere Um, I agree. I have heard 80 percent of the comments tonight have been about bikes and pedestrian safety I'm not sure if anybody has any comments about cars Oh, maybe one We'll get to that next Hi, my name is jack. I former resident for new winewski current resident of burlington I kind of wanted to just like synthesize some of the things that i've been hearing from people tonight I agree with a lot of it But it seems like there's a lot of frustration around looking at a project that's going to take Seven years and cost 60 million dollars and I understand from an engineering perspective that like Lane configuration is not the same as building a bridge But I think for you know emotional investment for people who live here and use this bridge every day That hearing that kind of timescale and that kind of cost and like but we're just going to Recreate as close to the existing conditions, especially for cars, right? That's not going to change and that's why you're probably not hearing people coming out to Comment on that is because it effectively won't really change What's happening for them, but for people who use the bridge in other ways Um, there's a really big change here. There's a it's a very acute pain point Um, so anyway, I just wanted to kind of call that out and say that like I know like I can rationally understand why that like you can separate What a what happens from an engineering perspective and like lane configurations, but I think from a public perspective, you know, we're looking at A project this size feeling like that's kind of crazy that we're going to wait seven years and have something that feels Kind of what like what we already have Um, and then from a second just kind of addition Thinking about especially downtown wanouski Where it's kind of basically a highway. It has this like seed of being a place That's really nice to be and at certain times when the planes are not flying and there's a gap in traffic It is a really nice place to be And so, you know, it doesn't impact Burlington as much It does, you know in little ways further down downstream, but it's such a big impact So like who used to live in downtown wanouski there Just there's there's a big emotional attachment to the amount of traffic flowing through this circle and looking for changes and not waiting Seven years to then start those conversations. So Appreciate the comments Prince that you kind of summarizing all that Yeah, the feeling in the room that from what I'm gathering is cars are going too fast Too many of them lack of safety with pedestrians walking next to them Kind of that impact on the downtown setting and what it feels like. So I appreciate that No, I think she Yep, so speed limit is 25 miles an hour out there and won't change. That's our plan at the moment Okay, next row. Thank you for your patience Thanks. So a couple quick follow-up questions one is I think you're hearing from a lot of people in this room We're wanting you to be more visionary to to look at more multimodal stuff When you talk with GMT, I know I hope you don't just talk about delays But you talk about ways of expediting and making Making public transport faster And more desirable. So more people use it I think the question on the line was about traffic real speeds. We know the speed limit is 25 We know people aren't doing that. They're doing more. I do more if I can And I'm going to be able to go much faster with with the additional lane width So I'm really concerned about that additional width of vehicle Travel space that that's going to exacerbate the conflicts between users that we're everybody in this room is already concerned about So we'd love for you to come back to us with existing data on current actual traffic speeds, not the speed limit and Look to are those The lane widths and the shoulders Really necessary are they are they standard for vehicle centric design or is it something it could be adapted? I Am thank you So so again a more more common so the operational speed limit, I don't know We we don't enforce the speed out there. We provide the infrastructure and stuff to law enforcement to understand that part We can certainly Try to coordinate what that might look like so we can try to find that out Understood understood Yes, we're looking at traffic calming. I know that was a lot of the input tonight was about traffic calming measures How can we make sure people slow down? Does this increase with do anything? part of the other reason for the two foot shoulder that I haven't mentioned was Right now there's no there's no barrier out there, right? You've got that raised sidewalk feels really uncomfortable. Somebody's mirror on a car could probably hit you That two foot shoulders out there is a small buffer From the lane to the barrier so that way they're not scraping the barrier as they're driving So I can't say we can just go back and get rid of a two foot lane and call it good or two foot shoulder We'd have to actually go back and look at that to see if we can still physically fit cars through there We can look at those types of configurations. Thank you So that's not one that I can personally comment on We talked a lot about putting four lanes back replicating existing conditions I'm not sure as wanouski specific vision at this point. So it's something we'd have to look more into Hi, i'm susan and I just had this thought. Why don't we have On the way into burlington in the morning Have it we'll have three lanes have one lane going least traffic and yeah use three lanes and at different times a day We have to change Which lanes go which way that seems like a possibility Yep, so so having alternating lanes so essentially having a three lane configuration with two going one direction sometimes the day and two going the other Understood so that type of thing has been used in different cities Where there's a lot a lot a lot of physical constraints that they can't overbuild and provide the accommodation full time It can be confusing to drivers to understand as they're coming through what's actually available for them All right, there's different features whether it's with different light styles and kind of you know green circles and red Access to let people know there's other ones with a physical barrier down the middle that can get relocated This project is way too short for a physical barrier relocation to happen over and over again. It's incredibly expensive Um, we can definitely look more into different intelligent transportation systems or ITS To help out with that type of configuration be something we can go back and talk about Understood. Yep. Thank you. He's just going to grab a water I'm giving you I'm giving you a moment of peace. Okay My name's Angie and I just want to commend you for keeping your equanimity With this barrage of questions in great variety of questions keeping your equanimity and sense of humor And taking it all in I'm confident that you're taking it all in because that's what you asked us to do So, thank you. That's all Hey, I'm ryan. I live in wunewski. I also wanted to start with saying thank you for standing up there for two hours and listening to us It's a very friendly crowd and I want to pile on really quickly It's an incredibly harrowing experience to bike across that bridge as me and my wife do way more often than we drive it I'm relieved to hear about Maintaining pedestrian access across the bridge. I was a big concern of ours as people who bike into berlington for work during the construction phase But I would implore you guys to do better than go from Near-death experience to feeling like we're not going to die Going across the bridge in the end of this and you really de-emphasize the automobile because it's literally killing people And be more creative and think of better ways to to use this bridge and to cut down on traffic Because yeah downtown wunewski could be a way better place the f-35 is another conversation But just not having that flow of traffic through the city and over the bridge. It could be a heck of a better community. So thanks Thank you Is there a comment cool? I figured you want to use that as just a comment or do you want to address that? Yeah, just want to move on try to get everybody out of here My name is solve and I know you answered the question from someone else about the roundabout As an option for the intersection. I'm I'm very familiar over the years of the discussions that have happened I was on the public works commission in berlington for many years Um, and I'm flummoxed at why there is such resistance to Using a roundabout which even in the most recent letter from the city council to I guess retrans saying that they want the uh signalized intersection Even though their own letter says that the uh the best option the roundabout is best for improving pedestrian safety It's best for reducing potential for crashes And it's best for managing peak hour congestion My question is um, I've been told at different points that it's the federal government funding that will prevent us from using A roundabout there because the financing it's too complicated and they don't want to do that or it's a v-trans thing So my question is I'm familiar with other communities that are going gang buster with putting in Roundabouts for safety 24 7 traffic calming. It will deal with the issue of people Seeing a yellow light and stepping on it at the stop lights, which is going to happen So I'm just my question is is it really true that the federal government's financing like that grant money? Or something in the v-trans policies Prevents the city from considering a roundabout for that intersection I get the pleasure of this one again laura from burlington public works It is somewhat tied to the federal funding the roundabout option takes out more historical properties And under the uh nipa review or federal environmental permitting review They will just fundamentally not let us select that option for funding because of its impacts Um, we can still continue to just verify that as we do a much deeper dive into the environmental impacts Under this project than would have been done in the scoping studies um But that is really the fundamental which had to lead the Selection committee under the scoping studies and ultimately the burlington city council To selecting the signalized intersection alternative Do you need to repeat that? I don't know if they heard anything Do you have another question My concern is that you have documentation that says that the alternative that's safest is You know in the public record and as soon as those Accidents and people being killed and there have been people pedestrians killed that intersection Once that starts happening and the cost is being transitioned to the population that is injured in a crash Or is run over by a car And the fact that this is in the public record is going to be a potential liability risk for the communities that have Voted to not use the most safe Choice for the intersection. So that's part of the reason i'm asking You know, that's an issue that I think should be considered Um, and that it's not is a risk a liability risk that the uh, the legal departments of the cities probably should think about But i definitely appreciate the comments as laura mentioned It's something we can go back and revisit a little bit and see if there's any any wiggle room But I definitely understand the comments and the concerns that we'll take back So we are just past eight. I just want to We're not going to stop But anybody who wants to get up because they need to get home. Please feel free They're we this is a judgment free zone at all Always so we just we will definitely stay and answer more questions So let's go we got this we are here My question I think I heard you say you're going to build a temporary pedestrian bridge across the river Is that correct? And if it's going to be temporary, why cannot be permanent? Why can't it be permanent? That's point one. That's a real question. The other thing is that I think Detouring all this traffic will be a wonderful opportunity for wanuski and berlin to work together to reduce the traffic that comes through The old east end, which is where I live You know that traffic we have monitored it and we know that that traffic does not adhere to the to the speed limits We have that information So if the cities could work together to make that a nice Another way to get to town other than through the old east end that would be great But I want to know about the permanent and temporary bridge Okay, so the the the real question was about the temporary versus pedestrian permanent pedestrian bridge And maybe I misspoke earlier But in this kind of situation where we build a pedestrian bridge off to the side That will become part of the permanent infrastructure. It will be permanent It's built off to the side as an initial phase in order to keep Pedestrian traffic moving through the project site while we build the rest of the project But it will be part of the overall project. So We'll build a little piece off to the side for pedestrians We'll build a much bigger piece upstream That's going to be part of the structure and then during a four to six week closure We're going to demolish the bridge and push that big piece over to touch into that initial piece They will be joined. Yep Yep Yep, and that is something we've considered as well It ends up being different funding sources different projects different maintenance needs So there's a lot of additional hurdles to overcome with that Making a single combined bridge gets rid of a lot of those obstacles Any other questions here? Here you go. Thank you Hi, I'm the person who raised my hand and said that I was scared to drive in the area I'm a recent arrival and It the the speed that in that oval is insane I've never I have never been in a roundabout before where you had to indicate with your blinker that you were staying in the roundabout That was a an eye-opener for me and that coming, you know, all that traffic is just whizzing right onto that bridge and I think that Enforcement needs to be involved. So that's why I'm afraid as a car driver as well as a walker and a biker Keep going Can we go back to the financial slide, please? I'm curious about some of these numbers. You've got 24.8 million listed here. Is there other federal funds in addition to the raise grant? Okay, sure. And when we say the intersection, that's the burlington side Yeah, yeah Um Yeah, I'd also just bring up a slight point, right? We're obviously in a time of inflation At the fed's target, which is two percent 50 million which is the low end turns into 60 million over your project duration That's not to say anything about the inflation that we've seen recently or potentially higher that still could come Right, so this project could end up at 80 million 100 million And then you could still have 180 people that are really pissed off that they didn't get what they wanted No, let's work together. I'm not necessarily convinced the separate bridge is it but separate in that Bikers and vehicles are separate and ideally even pedestrians and bikers could be separate I'm not attached to it being a separate bridge altogether It could be separate but divided. You know, I think all of us are willing to compromise Um, I'm hearing at times. I think loose promises and loose guarantees This room made itself clear and will continue to do so we would like you to receive that input We really genuinely want the best for ourselves for our children You know for our community. Thank you Hi, I'm john, uh, I recently moved to wanouski And I had some basically to piggyback on the biking and walking And also give a suggestion to it. So first thing is it's basically you have 12 feet on either side. They're both equal. They're both mixed use Um, has there been any thought to making the east and west different? So as a biker who's gone across there Um, I normally am on the west side of the bridge and that's kind of riverside comes into there So is there any thought to maybe reduce it on the east side to eight feet and give back four feet to the west side And you could have a dedicated bike path there pedestrian access could be slightly raised six inches or something You still have probably two three feet. You could put plantings or something like that Just thinking about them maybe differently from my experience to go across the bridge No, definitely appreciate the comments. It is something we've talked about loosely so far We didn't want to make any decisions before coming to hear everybody But we have talked a little bit about having separate pedestrians one side bikes on the other No conclusion. Uh, there's no easy answer, right? Bikers come from riverside They also come down cold chester. So if you put it all on one side Then they've bikers have to zigzag through an intersection to get over there And if they're going east and musky, they got to do it the same way So it kind of funnels right back to that same concept of we know we've got Infrastructure on the bridge. We know we have bike lanes in both approaches We need to find a safe way to make that connection happen Okay But you guys can try it for years Other cities have done this is not like we're not reinventing the wheel But like, you know, those bikers coming down from cold chester need to have a safe way and similarly All The project All the all the like that can be connected They're really just I mean lines on the Hey, the lines on the ground I think they're probably all time they get washed out from the salt on the road I think it's the Even if it takes a while for the whole business to catch up all the way up like Part of the project to be is that would be bad Okay, anybody anybody? Okay, last is this the last question Is it? Oh my goodness You're the grand prize winner Uh, I'll give you a hug Okay, uh, when I see you again after when we're not so sweaty, I'll give you a hug Okay This one is in regard to the financing. I just remembered seeing these emails, uh announcements coming out from the from the federal transportation department about the Reconnecting communities program. There's this series of grants going out to help fund Um To reverse the harm that you know like our infrastructure as Our car infrastructure is done in the u.s. They have all this like money available to help I don't know improve things in other ways Um, it would that be something we could look into for this project and then I have uh one Small question. Can we get trees on the bridge? So So the the the two questions for the people on on line two One was about trying to get an additional grant to help offset some of these costs Uh, I'm unsure if that's feasible personally, but it's something we can look into To see if we can get a little bit more money. The other was about plantings on the bridge I don't think we're going to go forward with trees that they take up a lot of space There's a lot of weight a lot of issues with them as carolin mentioned planters can definitely be something that can be considered Um, just nothing is so enormous. So Yep Yep Excellence appreciate everybody's time tonight. Uh, we'll be definitely heard all the comments. Thank you