Planning commission approves draft purpose-and-need for Mary Street–Williston Road scoping study

The South Burlington Planning Commission on a roll call vote approved a draft purpose-and-need statement for the Mary Street–Williston Road intersection scoping study, advancing the project into the alternatives-development phase.

Stantec project manager Sean Neely summarized the study's goal as developing intersection-improvement alternatives "to address future growth and the mobility, safety, and connectivity for all transportation users" and explained that the "blue box is the purpose, and the green boxes are the needs." He presented traffic context including 2022 average daily traffic figures and a five-year crash summary, noting "there were about 28,000 vehicles traveling that segment each day" and that there were 29 crashes at the hotel drives and 16 at Mary Street during 2020–2024.

Residents and commissioners pressed the panel on downstream effects if Mary Street is reopened. Mary Street resident CJ told the commission it "sounds like the decision has already been made to open Mary Street to through traffic" and warned volumes could jump sharply: "maybe about a year before it goes from about maybe less than a 100 cars a day to maybe, upwards of 2 to 3,000 cars per day." Commissioners asked staff to follow up with Public Works about traffic-calming options.

Commissioner John moved to approve the draft purpose-and-need statement; the motion carried on roll call with five ayes and one abstention (Colin). Erica Quallentoll of Public Works said the city will provide follow-up on construction and traffic-calming process as the project advances.