BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Local leaders gathered to celebrate the opening of the first piece of the long-delayed Champlain Parkway in Burlington on Tuesday, but not everyone in the community is excited.
After decades in the works, the stretch of road between Home and Lakeside avenues is the first piece of the larger Champlain Parkway project aimed at improving traffic flow into downtown Burlington.
The segment has been paved since last year but the opening was delayed due to work on traffic lights, road markings and the Pine Street Project. In the past couple of years, Pine Street has seen a boom of restaurants and businesses.
“That’s all been great, but it’s also brought with it more traffic, more traffic of folks looking to get in and out of town. Pine Street was never really built as an artery to get in and out of Burlington, that’s what the parkway is for, it’s a promise to residents and businesses that we’ve made over the decades and the first step is finally here,” said Ben Traverse, D-Burlington City Council president.
The city says the project is a big step forward for the area’s growth.
“This project protects Lake Champlain, takes out 6,000 pounds of sediment out of the lake every year, has robust bike and pedestrian facilities, transit shelters, this is a road project and so much more,” Burlington Public Works Director Chapin Spencer said.
Some longtime residents in the area are not as excited.
“Not very happy, not very happy about this road at all,” said Lisa Yankowski, who lives in Queen City Park in South Burlington.
Yankowski worries the price tag on the project wasn’t worth it.
“I don’t think there’s a really good reason to use this road for a lot of people, especially if they’re around here,” she said.
Yankowski says people in the neighborhoods nearby will only face more congestion. Others feel the same way.
“It feels a bit like a boondoggle right now, like something that is maybe not giving us the benefit that we want, that maybe it’s going to bring a lot of traffic to this neighborhood that is maybe unwelcome,” said Zach VandeZande of Burlington.
VandeZande and other critics have argued that traffic congestion along Shelburne Road and Pine Street could be solved by roundabouts or other slight modifications instead of the new road. But he says he is excited about the walk and bike paths.
“I do really like these new walkways, I think that was a really lovely addition and I think what they’ve done on Pine Street is really great for the city, but I just don’t feel the benefit,” he said.
The Burlington City Council took action at their last meeting to finalize phase two of the project. Construction on that should begin later in the fall to connect this section of the parkway to Interstate 189.