Winooski voters approved a $4.6 million bond on Town Meeting Day to pay for the city’s share of the cost to reconstruct the 96-year-old bridge that connects Winooski and Burlington.
The tally was 1,066-253, according to the unofficial results posted online Tuesday night.
Connecting the downtown areas of two of Vermont’s most densely populated cities, the bridge is the Onion City’s busiest stretch, serving an estimated 25,000 vehicles and 300 cyclists and pedestrians per day, according to town officials and the project website maintained by the state.
Built in 1928 and jointly owned by Winooski and Burlington, the bridge is reaching the end of its service life, according to local and state officials who have been pushing for the project since discussions first began in 2017.
The bridge replacement project is estimated to cost $60 million to $80 million and would largely be paid for with federal funding, including a $24.8 million grant, with state and municipal contributions making up the difference.
It’s an important vote to help the city cover its 5% share of the project costs and leverage federal grant funding to improve safety and infrastructure for cars, bicycles and pedestrians, said Mayor Kristine Lott in an email.
Now that the funding is approved, “the city will continue to work with our partners to develop the project and perform community outreach,” said Jonathan Rauscher, public works director, in an email Tuesday.
The next step will be to establish the technical concept plans that have to be formally approved by the both cities this spring to pave the way for a design-build contract in late 2025, he added.
Despite the bond approval, the tax rate would not rise until 2028, when it could increase 2.5% to 4% depending on several factors such as the actual construction cost, additional funding and Grand List growth in Winooski, said Rauscher.
Construction is expected to start in early 2027, Rauscher said.
Burlington does not have a bond vote for its portion of the project this year but has incorporated its contribution into its long-range capital forecast. An initial $75,000 was budgeted in fiscal year 2024 and additional funds are being projected across future fiscal years, according to Chapin Spencer, director of the Burlington’s Department of Public Works.
The Chittenden County Regional Transportation Commission “strongly supports” the reconstruction, according to Eleni Churchill, transportation program manager. “Very importantly the new bridge will also provide for improved facilities for safe walking and biking across the bridge,” she said in an email.
Not everyone is on the same page. Several residents expressed concern at recent public hearings about the projected lane widening and lack of separated bike and pedestrian facilities. (Multi-use paths are proposed in the design plan approved by Winooski and Burlington city councils in 2018.)
Winooski resident Terry Zigmund, who regularly bikes and walks across the bridge, said she planned to vote against the bond item due to her concern about safety for bikers, pedestrians and wheelchair-users. “There was a lot of public support for protected bike lanes at those meetings and they completely ignored it,” she said this week.
Jonathon Weber, director of advocacy and complete streets at Local Motion, a statewide bike and walk advocacy nonprofit, said in an email that, “We want this project to move forward, and recognize that the current design will greatly improve infrastructure for walking, biking, and rolling on the bridge.”
“That said,” Weber continued, “we continue to believe that the bridge and intersection are being designed with too many lanes for cars, and that this design will perpetuate and potentially worsen safety and quality of life issues resulting from high vehicle speeds and conflict points surrounding the bridge.”
Clarification: This story was updated to clarify Local Motion’s position on the project.