The long delayed/discussed/debated circumferential highway may finally have met it’s end.
Despite the fact that the plan for a Burlington beltway was obsolete from a planning perspective virtually as soon as the ink was dry, it’s supporters have pushed onward. Originally a bipartisan plan with support from Rs and Ds (such as Howard Dean and Patrick Leahy), in recent years the D support has been seen to whither. Pushback from the EPA on environmental issues, half-assed impact studies, and the reality that the dynamics of planning in general (and Chittenden County in particular) have changed caused many supporters to reconsider their support.
None of this ever never mattered to it’s hardcore backers, such as Governor Jim Douglas and IBM’s John O’Kane, who largely transformed the issue into a partisan one, while non-Republicans seemed more willing to consider the changing dynamics. For folks like Douglas and O’Kane, it became a sort of ideological crusade against all reason.
Gov. Peter Shumlin has now stepped into the process as the grownup – and will likely take the project back to formula, from his remarks. With the news that the Federal Highway Administration approved of the project, but the Environmental Protection Agency did not, Shumlin not only indicated it was (finally) time for a more thoughtful approach to solving Chittenden County’s significant transportation issues, he got representatives from IBM and the environmental community to stand with him when he did. Impressive.
Shumlin officially buried the Douglas ideological (or was it just petulant?) dogma with an effective epitaph, indicating it was time to finally discuss “cost effective and modern solutions” (emphasis added).
Shumlin: “The Circ, as originally conceived, has become a white elephant that is getting in the way of our ability to actually get something done. Our focus on a project that is not going to happen as it was originally conceived has led to inaction on transportation projects throughout the region.”
Bullseye.
The sky is falling, the sky is falling!
It’s about time this boondoggle was laid to rest. It wouldn’t achieve the goal, but would cost a lot in the process of not getting there. Kind of like Boston’s big dig in miniature.
What do you do with the East Berlin and West Berlin of Williston, which has been divided by an unimproved highway corridor for a quarter century because the town comprehensively planned on the government following through?
What do you do with the ever-increasing through-traffic on Route 2A, which Williston was told would be diverted to the Circ — thus offsetting additional destination traffic when Taft Corners was being comprehenisvely planned as a growth center?
Gov. Dean always said that a regional solid waste facility in Williston was conditioned on the availability of a Circ to handle the county’s garbage trucks instead of Williston’s town roads. What now? CSWD continues apace, but the Circ is “dead.”
Finally, do you realize that much of the wetlands being relied upon by the EPA are formerly-cultivated farmlands that have laid fallow during the last couple decades of delay, with the state having done nothing to prevent wetlands to appear where there were none before? One suspects there were some hydrogeologists within the state and/or CLF that knew this would happen eventually, and thus made delay the substantive goal.
The only lessons learned from this sorry episode is that long-range planning by litigation trumps community planning, delay and obstructionism is a viable tool to override local control and planning, and no community should trust the State when it promises anything.
Meanwhile, the Governor is unwiling to give up any of the unusued highway corridor acquired by the State through condemnation, thus perpetuating the division of the Williston with no prospect of meaningful assistance on the horizon. If the highway is truly “dead,” sell the land and let Williston proceed on that basis. Instead, he hedges his bets and lets Williston twist in the wind.
And the word “Williston” was literally uttered but once during the whole press conference. Ironic, since Williston is the community scarred by this regrettable history, and the presser actually took place in Williston. But Sen. Mazza and Administration officials from Colchester were eager to talk about renewed interest in projects for Colchester in the wake of this decision.