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Burlington council-backed plan favors two-way separated bikeway on Battery Street
Summary
CCRPC staff and Burlington planners told the Transportation Advisory Committee that Burlington City Council selected a preferred Battery Street Corridor alternative featuring a two-way separated bikeway on the west side; short-term restriping, signal upgrades and funding pursuit are next steps.
City and regional planners briefed the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission Transportation Advisory Committee on June 3 about Burlington’s Battery Street Corridor Scoping Study, which the city council approved with a west‑side two‑way separated bikeway as the recommended preferred alternative.
Jason Charest of CCRPC and Julia Ursaki of the City of Burlington presented the study’s outreach and design work. They said public outreach included corridor events, an online survey, outreach at a laundromat, a live radio show and translated short videos produced with Burlington’s Racial Equity, Inclusion & Belonging office. The team developed three alternatives to respond to public concerns about cycling safety, parking and pedestrian crossings and later created a hybrid option that combined elements of the original designs.
According to the presentation, “Alternative 2 became the recommended preferred alternative (and was approved by Council),” a plan that features a two‑way separated bikeway on the west side with refinements to reduce user conflicts. The presenters said the configuration was chosen because it reduced conflicts and better addressed public safety priorities even though it requires some cyclists to cross Battery Street.
The study evaluated tradeoffs including corridor travel times, effects on College Street crosswalks, impacts to Battery Park, parking opportunities and business frontage. Staff noted downhill/uphill interactions and modified the conceptual design to address potential conflicts between riders traveling at different speeds.
Next steps outlined to the TAC include short‑term improvements such as restriping and signal upgrades, intersection improvements, coordination with other city projects and pursuing funding to move the preferred alternative toward implementation. Project materials and documentation are posted on the CCRPC project webpage, which the presenters provided to the committee.
