This story by Liberty Darr was first published in The Other Paper on May 30.
South Burlington residents and those passing through the city on a busy workday are all too familiar with the bumper-to-bumper traffic congestion near exit 14 on Interstate 89.
This area is now the basis of a study called I-89 2050, which takes a long view of what this 37-mile stretch of highway could look like in 25 years. But in the short term, regional planners have hyper-focused on one major problem area: the exit 14 interchange.
“We are really thinking about this interchange as being a gateway and a hub of activity in the middle of one of our most populated areas in the state, and there’s a lot of development that’s being contemplated in the immediate area surrounding the interchange,” Karen Sentoff, a consultant with the transportation consulting firm VHB, said.
The exit 14 study will evaluate various interchange alternatives that address capacity, operational, accessibility and safety issues as identified in the larger I-89 2050 study. The final goal is to recommend a preferred interchange alternative to the Vermont Agency of Transportation.
The regional planning commission held a public kick-off in South Burlington last week to gauge where exactly resident concerns fall and hear feedback on what they’d like to see in the exit 14 area. Most residents at the meeting voiced concern over the area’s lack of bus lanes, congestion and the speed of vehicles merging from both the on- and off-ramps.
“Even though we looked at the entire interstate, we did focus our energy on the exit 14 area because of congestion issues, delay issues, safety issues, especially the difficulty of bicycles and pedestrians to cross the interchange area. There are just a number of issues with this interchange,” Eleni Churchill, transportation program manager with Chittenden County Regional Planning and the project manager for the exit 14 study.
As the population in South Burlington continues to grow, the team is actively monitoring just how the area’s traffic patterns are shifting. The team identified several areas as high-crash locations, with uncontrolled bicycle and pedestrian crossings and infrastructure, tight weaving sections of the interstate near exit 14 that are nearing capacity, along with deficient merging lengths.
Looking over a snapshot of the last five years, there have been a total of 369 crashes in that area, with some of the most serious happening as cars exit the highway going east toward Dorset Street.
While traffic on I-89 grew nearly 12 percent between 2000 and 2019, the team evaluated significantly less movement throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and the years that have followed. Similarly, morning and evening commute traffic patterns have changed as more people work from home and the typical 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. work model diminishes.
The group spearheading the studies are projecting and planning for a nearly 8 percent traffic growth rate between 2022 and 2042.
“We’re starting to see folks working from home half the day and then going to an office or a public meeting or whatever. It’s really busy from when school lets out at 2:50 p.m. through to 6 p.m. but we’re not getting that peak traffic and congestion period right at 5 p.m. like we had historically,” Sentoff said. “We are starting to see that spread over a longer period of time and more activity through the middle of the day.”
What’s interesting, she noted, is that there’s just about the same number of people coming off the interstate in South Burlington and Burlington in the morning as are coming in the evening.
Alternatives that have already been evaluated are an enhanced clover leaf to slow down motorists, and a diamond traffic concept, like what is seen at exit 12 coming into Williston.
“If you can picture the Williston exit where instead of having the loops when you get off you just get off on a straight shot,” said David Saladino, another consultant with VHB working on the study. “That diamond interchange is a very tight configuration, then you’d have all those circles freed up to do something else in those areas.”
Final recommendations are expected by winter following a final public meeting in early 2025.
Read the story on VTDigger here: I-89 study focuses on South Burlington exit.