Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Transportation Route 22A topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Senate committee hears push for a Route 22A study as AOT warns costs, timeline and tolling make a highway unlikely
Summary
The Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs committee heard testimony for a proposed limited‑access/Interstate study of Route 22A, with local residents and planners citing safety and freight needs while the Agency of Transportation told senators such a study and any resulting construction would be costly and unlikely to be toll‑funded.
The Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs committee on a recent session considered adding an Interstate/limited‑access study of Route 22A to S.327, prompted by safety concerns and regional freight needs.
The study proposal, introduced in draft 3.1, would direct the Agency of Transportation to evaluate limited‑access highway options and routes that could improve freight movement between Burlington and connections in New York. Committee staff described the 22A provision as largely modeled on prior legislative language and said the section aims to gather information before any construction decision.
Why it matters: witnesses said Route 22A carries substantial freight, has limited shoulders in places and a cluster of crash sites, and connects economically important areas. Roy, publisher of Lakeside News and Sun, told the committee, “This 22A from Fair Haven to [Benson] is the most dangerous highway in the state of Vermont without question,” and displayed photographs of truck rollovers to underline safety risks for school buses, freight trucks and local traffic.
Agency of Transportation perspective: Jeremy Reed, chief engineer and division director for the highway division at the Agency of Transportation, cautioned senators about feasibility. Reed cited a recent planning and environmental linkage (PEL) study in Virginia that cost about $2 million and produced two alternatives whose estimated costs were roughly $60–$80 million per mile. Extending those figures to a limited‑access highway, Reed said, would likely put construction at about $100 million per mile and could make a multi‑billion‑dollar project (several billion depending on length) — “we would not be able to produce a document that had any meaning” on the proposed committee deadline, he said. Reed also warned that tolling is often impractical in corridors with free alternatives, because usage “leakage” undermines revenue projections.
Local planning and freight context: regional planning representatives told the committee that the state freight and rail plans currently omit some western corridors and that rail transload capacity south of Shelburne/Charlotte is limited, pushing freight onto roadways like 22A. One regional official reported 63 accidents in Benson and West Haven over five years, including injuries and fatalities, and urged expedited attention to safety and circulation along the corridor.
Committee response and next steps: senators pressed AOT for clarification about toll precedents and permutation of funding models; some members proposed reworking the study language to focus on shorter‑term safety and passing‑lane improvements rather than a full limited‑access construction study. Staff and sponsors agreed to revise the bill language and stakeholders and to continue the conversation with AOT and regional partners; the committee signaled it hopes to have updated language for further consideration soon.
The committee did not take a vote on the provision during the session; members said they would return with refined language and funding priorities before advancing S.327.
