Rutland Herald

Truck traffic tops transportation meeting

June 23, 2000
By BRENT CURTIS Herald Staff

There's no easy answer to the issue of tractor-trailer truck traffic through downtown centers on Route 7.

But Agency of Transportation Deputy Secretary Micque Glitman told an audience of about 40 people at the Holiday Inn on Thursday night that solutions could be found if communities were willing to work together.

Glitman, who spoke at a meeting of the Rutland Region Transportation Council meeting at the Holiday Inn, encouraged communities along Route 7 to develop project proposals to divert truck traffic with a regional emphasis.

"If a regional solution came to us that was supported by the towns in the area, it would have a much better chance of becoming a reality than if we just draw a line on a map and say, 'Here's our idea,'" she said.

Complaints about big trucks driving on roads that can't support them or through densely populated areas were the most common during meeting.

Wallingford Selectman Edward Crelin said he was worried about a proposal by OMYA Inc. to send as many as 80 trucks a day through his town. OMYA wants to reopen a calcium carbonate quarry in the Danby Four Corners area and route the trucks down Route 140, through Tinmouth and Wallingford, and then onto Route 7.

Crelin said Route 140 cannot handle such a volume of trucks. Instead, he said, a railway should be built to haul the ore from Danby to Florence.

"That would eliminate the traffic through our town and Rutland City," he said.

Representatives from several other communities along Route 7 said they had similar concerns about their roadways.

Several people asked why there couldn't be a rail spur to OMYA's plant in Florence.

Richard Baker, Brandon's representative to the transportation council, said that some percent of the truck traffic in Vermont originates out of state. He said the state should look at ways to redirect that traffic, either on different Vermont highways - like Route 22A - or through adjacent states.

The goal would be, Baker said, to decrease the amount of truck traffic on Route 7.

Glitman said there was little hope for individual projects to receive state funding at the moment.

For the first time in years, she said the AOT had more projects ready to build than it had money to pay for them. As a result, several projects have been shelved and even more will be set aside next year, she said.

The best chance for Route 7 improvements to take place is for communities along the strip to work together on a regional project, she said.

The state has been encouraging communities to present plans to the AOT rather than the other way around. Glitman pointed to a working agreement between Brandon and Pittsford as a successful way for towns to influence AOT policy.

A steering committee made up of members from those towns and the state have been working for the last 18 months, designing upgrades to an 11-mile stretch of Route 7.