Committee opposes amendment to H.488 after debate over sidewalk removal on Route 12 bridge in Berlin

An amendment to H.488 that would have required the Agency of Transportation (AOT) to review and, where feasible, modify agreements with municipalities to preserve sidewalks on imminent bridge projects drew broad discussion and a unanimous unfavorable straw poll from the House Transportation Committee on March 26.

Representative Van Donahue (Berlin), sponsor of the amendment, said the change was prompted by the planned replacement of the Route 12 bridge over the Dog River in the Riverton neighborhood of Berlin. Donahue said the existing bridge includes a long‑standing sidewalk cleared by a private resident, and that current designs remove that sidewalk in favor of a wider shared bike area after AOT declined to proceed with the earlier sidewalk design because the town would not sign the agency's proposed memorandum of understanding (MOU). "We're going to invest in a hundred year bridge without a sidewalk when it currently has one," Donahue said.

Jeremy Reed, chief engineer at the Agency of Transportation, gave site context and technical detail. He said the sidewalk on the existing bridge is maintained informally by a local resident and that, after outreach and several selectboard meetings in 2023, the town asked AOT to remove the sidewalk component. Reed said AOT's revised proposal for the new bridge calls for 11‑foot travel lanes with a 5‑foot shoulder on each side (to accommodate bikes and pedestrians within the shoulder) rather than a separated 5½‑foot sidewalk. "The town is currently not maintaining that sidewalk in any way, shape, or form. It is a local resident who's taken it upon himself to snow blow it in the winter occasionally," Reed said.

Committee discussion focused on three recurring issues: municipal capacity and willingness to maintain sidewalks (the practical burden of snow removal and liability language in MOUs), the design tradeoffs that can increase vehicle speeds when a bridge is widened, and the guidance established under the state's Complete Streets policy (Act 34, sec. 1 of 2011). Reed told members the Complete Streets guidance is context‑sensitive and does not automatically require a sidewalk at every location. "Complete Streets does not dictate sidewalks in every location. It does not dictate anything. What it says is look at the context at the location and try to make advancements for that location that make sense," he said.

Multiple members said the Riverton example may reflect a broader pattern affecting small towns, where limited municipal resources make MOUs difficult to accept and can produce long‑term car‑centric results. Representatives asked for further testimony from regional planning commissions, town managers and agency staff to examine whether MOU language, appeals processes or program guidance should change before the Legislature adopts statutory language. The committee chair said members appear to support additional policy work but not the amendment as drafted.

On a nonbinding, in‑committee straw poll the chair asked members whether they found the amendment favorable; the committee recorded the result as unanimously unfavorable. The chair indicated the sponsor may present the amendment on the House floor but signaled the committee intends to pursue further policy review and additional testimony rather than adopting the amendment as part of H.488.