Burlington
residents speak out against the Champlain Parkway current
design:
some comments submitted as part of the Environmental Justice
Outreach Meeting September 26, 2019
Note
the complete statements of these commenters below can be viewed at
TonyRVT.blogspot.com
Next Pine Street Coalition Meeting, 9:30 a.m. Wednesday October 30, Krestel Coffee (formerly Maglianero), Maple Street between So. Champlain and Battery
Diane
Elliott Gayer ...There
needs to be a new EIS study. The conditions that the
engineering and landscape design are based on have dramatically
changed. There are [m]any traffic and environmental conditions
that will be worse with this current plan.
1. Do NOT dead-end
Pine Street at South Burlington. Make the connection to 189 a
roundabout facility.
..3. Do NOT design the
Parkway for high-speed clearances and then post it for low-speed
travel. This does not work...4. End the Parkway at Flynn
Avenue...5. Develop a coherent plan for King and Maple Streets before
shoving more traffic through the intersections...
Carolyn
Bates, Carolyn Street ...Now
this project must undergo an environmental justice review. This means
the project planners must show that the project will not have a
disproportionate impact on low income and minority neighborhoods like
mine.
I
think it does have a horrifically huge discrepancy and impact. This
project must be stopped NOW, and never go forward. Look at your
own projected chart on the volume of traffic in the multi page
handout you gave to us. It is on Pg 27. Wealthy
neighborhoods have a reduction of 72% and 56% in traffic.
Lakeside, with some low income people, has an increase in 9%.
Our
neighborhood of King and Maple, has 37% increase at Maple St and Pine
and another 22% on King and Pine. It is the second poorest
neighborhood in Burlington, with 200 section 8 people, and at least
21
housing
projects. It also has a huge population of non-English speaking
African Americans...
James
Lockridge, Maple Street ...I
also wish there were roundabout-style intersections at King and Maple
Streets, which keep polluting vehicles moving past homes rather than
idling in front of them, and are known to be safer than traffic
lights for pedestrians. If any kind of roundabout fit into those
intersections, it would be closer to best practices for
transportation safety and neighborhood wellbeing than old fashioned
traffic lights would...
Mark
Hughes, ED, Burlington,
Justice For All Coordinator, Vermont Racial Justice
Alliance http://justiceforallvt.org...since
these plans began and the
adverse and disproportionate impact that this project has on one of
the most diverse and socioeconomically disadvantaged communities in
Burlington....We
can do better and we must do it now. Stop the project and include the
impacted community in planning.
Michael
Long, Brookes Avenue ...With
regard to the Champlain Parkway design as proposed, the projected one
third increase in traffic through the King Street/Maple Street
neighborhood is incongruous and unacceptable for a project
that is ostensibly intended to alleviate traffic congestion,
particularly through residential neighborhoods...A 20th century road
is senseless when we’re nearly two decades into the 21st century
already.
Jack
Daggitt, St. Paul Street
...If
a street connecting Shelburne Road and Lakeside Avenue is opened up
it is foolish to think motorists will observe a 25 MPH speed limit on
a smooth freshly paved surface. Without roundabouts at critical
intersections we can only expect increased speed, air pollution and
danger to both bicycles and pedestrians.
Shared
use facilities for both bicycles and pedestrians serve the needs of
neither. Bicycle need protected bike lanes not just a white stripe
on a road heavily traveled by motor vehicles.
Charles
Simpson, Summit Street ...New
USDOT requirements include consideration of disproportionate impact
on low-income and racial minority populations. The planned route will
dump considerably more vehicles than at present into the
Pine/Maple/King area which is well above city averages for those over
65, for racial minorities, and for low-to-moderate income
residents...Our Municipal Plan calls for complete streets, which
include not only separate and distinct bike and pedestrian paths, but
street connectivity. The current plan for the parkway adds zero
separate paths and creates dead ends on numerous streets that are now
connected. The most significant of these truncated streets is the
main commercial thoroughfare of the South End itself, Pine Street.
This will deprive residents of essential access to the adjacent
commercial district in South Burlington, including low income
residents in South Meadow and will further congest Shelburne Road,
making it the sole route out of the South End. Buses and emergency
vehicles will be greatly limited in their routes as well as walkers,
bikers, and drivers. Commercial routes from Pine Street will be cut
off. This makes no sense and is retrogressive from a traffic planning
perspective...
Tony
Redington, North Winooski Avenue ...A
closer look at King/Maple shows perfectly the direct connection
between the past 30 years of highway investment and the
disproportionate impacts on low income/minority populations. Our two
highest proportion of low/moderate and diverse populations in the
City of Burlington—the Old North End and King/Maple (both over 80%
low-moderate income)—also are neighborhoods where about a third
have no access to a car and therefore are dependent on walk, bicycle,
and transit modes! For 30 years minority and low income areas have
been neglected at all governmental levels either by design or neglect
when it comes to transportation investments—the current Parkway
design is the very embodiment of that practice...While residents
already complain about the traffic levels and associated noise,
walking discomfort and pollution, King Maple very simply must face a
29-37% increase in daily traffic as outlined in...traffic analysis...
Place
to sign petition to support a new EIS/modern roadway design:
Websites:
SafeStreetsBurlington.com
Note
the complete statements of these commenters below can be viewed at
TonyRVT.blogspot.com
Pine
Street Coalition October 17, 2019
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