State staff outline design-build plan, timeline for Burlington–Winooski bridge and adjacent intersection

Carolyn, a project staff member, told the House Transportation Committee on May 28 that the Burlington–Winooski bridge project — and a related intersection improvement at Riverside/Colchester/Barrett/Mill streets — has a base technical concept approved by the cities of Burlington and Winooski and will move forward to a design‑build solicitation intended to protect a federal RAISE grant.

The project team is seeking to keep some bridge capacity open during construction to limit detours and emergency‑response delays, staff said. Carolyn said the bridge effort began in 2017, traffic counts in the corridor reach about 25,000 vehicles a day, and the team merged the bridge and intersection efforts in 2023 so both pieces would align with RAISE grant milestone requirements.

Why it matters: the project team said the federal RAISE award is time‑limited and the RFP/contracting schedule must meet milestones to preserve the grant. Staff told the committee they expect to issue a construction RFP by summer 2026 to satisfy a September 30, 2026 milestone tied to the grant; staff cited June 30, 2026 as an internal target to allow schedule slack. If the milestone is missed, staff said the grant money could be lost.

Key technical choices and traffic handling

Staff described two broad alignment concepts. An "on‑alignment" approach would keep the new bridge centered on the existing alignment and likely require a 4–6 week full closure for certain operations (the presentation noted different staging approaches such as building a bridge nearby and sliding it into…