Winooski working on new walk-bike plan
The roundabout in downtown Winooski. Photo by Kate Kampner
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Winooski residents want infrastructure improvements along Main Street to make crossing, walking and biking safer, according to local leaders working on a new walk-bike plan for the city.
Infrastructure upgrades to the city’s thoroughfare and roadway maintenance more broadly were the highest priorities for folks in surveys administered by the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission, the consulting firm VHB and the city.
The Winooski Walk Bike Master Plan has been in development since January, and the group plans to present it to city councilors Dec. 4 — in time for them to include the project in next year’s budget, said Bryan Davis, who is the project manager and a member of the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission.
“The plan will provide the vision for a connected network of walking and biking facilities that gets people safely to where they want to go,” according to the group’s website. “The final plan will include a prioritized set of infrastructure recommendations with planning level cost estimates.”
The group set out to receive direct input from the community by doing a comprehensive survey.
Davis said the group wanted to focus on hearing from the people of Winooski. “We don’t rely on public meetings like we have in the past,” he said at an early October meeting of the city’s Safe, Health, Connected People Commission. “We went to the people instead.”
During that meeting, Davis described how the group targeted their surveys toward and solicited more general input via an online survey.
The project team also reached out to folks at events like the Winooski farmers market, the Intervale Center and schools. They gave out lawn signs with QR codes people could scan and open up a webpage with the survey in a language of their choice.
“We wanted to make sure we were going to different communities, different neighbors … so that we were hearing from the people that sometimes we’re not able to hear from,” said Davis during the committee meeting.
Noah Kanter, a former resident of Winooski, said in an interview that he doesn’t bike due to the lackluster shoulders in the area. “I don’t bike much because I don’t feel safe,” he said recently while waiting for his Uber on Main St.
Kanter said he can’t think of many roads in Winooski with shoulders wider than a foot or two. “Which is not much margin in my opinion,” he said.
Kanter also wants to see more spaces for people to lock their bikes. “For me to bike more, that’s what I would want to see,” he said.
Resident Hannah Hulscher knew about the master plan and is excited for it to come together. “I walk like 10 miles a day — I’m a big walker — so I think adding more accessible sidewalks is super awesome,” she said.
Hulscher hopes the city will make accommodations for walkers when construction begins — and that the streets will be lit up more at night.
Both interviewees pointed to the Riverside Bike Path as a good model to follow.
As the Dec. 4 city council meeting comes up, Davis is reflecting on how the project brought him closer to the city and its people. “This project really took me to some of those other places where I hadn’t been to in the past,” he said in an interview.