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Safe Routes to School task force asks South Burlington for $470,000 to fix key sidewalk gaps and add lighting
Summary
The Safe Routes to School Task Force asked the council to add $400,000 for a sidewalk gap on Richard Terrace and $70,000 for a White Street corridor safety scoping study to the FY26 budget; it also urged the city to add $286,000 in FY25 to install 16 streetlights along Dorset Street.
The South Burlington Safe Routes to School Task Force presented its FY26 budget request to the council on Jan. 6, asking the city to add $470,000 to address three priorities: installation of 16 lights along Dorset Street, construction of a sidewalk gap on Richard Terrace, and a safety improvement and scoping study for White Street.
Susan Grosso, facilitator for the task force and Complete Streets staff at Loco Motion, told the council the group has been meeting monthly for more than a year and identified walking and biking barriers around the city’s five schools through mapping and outreach. The task force piloted a neighborhood safe‑route on Elson Parkway and added temporary traffic calming elements, then surveyed users to inform next steps.
The highest‑priority near‑term request is to incorporate 16 streetlights into the Phase 4 Dorset Street repaving project; consultants estimated the add‑on at $286,000 and staff told councilors the DPW paving budget currently has funds available to bid the lighting with the paving contract. Tom DiPietro, public works director, said the consultant’s lighting model showed the average sidewalk illumination in the targeted corridor would increase from roughly 0.5 foot‑candles to about 1.5 with the new poles; the plan calls for 22½‑foot poles with shorter “cobra”‑style luminaires. DiPietro also said eight of the planned poles sit on school property, two on city property and six on private parcels.
For FY26 the task force requested $400,000 to engineer and build a roughly 1,100‑foot sidewalk segment on Richard Terrace between Patchen Road and Chamberlain School. Grosso said that gap prevents many children in the neighborhood from walking safely to school and that Chamberlain’s leadership identified it as their top priority. DPW staff said a desktop estimate for engineering and construction is about $400,000 and that survey work would be the first step to confirm right‑of‑way needs.
The task force’s third request is $70,000 for a White Street corridor safety plan and preliminary design. Grosso said the group identified 30 issues around Chamberlain School; 12 of those arise on White Street and range from speeding and noncompliance at crosswalks to narrow or unprotected bike lanes.
Councilors asked technical questions about the lighting design, tree canopy effects, pole heights and whether underground infrastructure work could be packaged with pavement work to save costs. DPW staff said the lighting bid has been received and is not far from the engineer’s estimate; power will be pulled from the city lighting system.
Councilors also discussed how the task force’s recommendations will feed into the city’s active transportation plan and the sidewalk inventory prioritization work now underway. Staff said they will reconcile project lists in the Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) prioritization and return with recommendations. The task force suggested ARPA‑inspired funds as a possible local source for the $470,000 package; DPW said the Dorset lighting can be covered in the current FY25 paving budget if council supports it.
No formal council vote was recorded on the requests at the Jan. 6 session; councilors asked staff to fold the task force’s priorities into the active transportation and UPWP work so the council can consider funding decisions during the FY26 budget process.
