By STEVEN JUPITER
BRANDON—According to Brandon Deputy Town Manager Bill Moore, there has been interest over the years in a trail between downtown Brandon and Forest Dale, some three miles to the east. Currently, there is no dedicated path between the two hubs that isn’t a heavily trafficked road, such as Route 73. Anyone who wants to walk from, say, Center Street in downtown Brandon to the Neshobe School would need to walk along busy Route 73, which has sidewalks along intermittent stretches.
The purpose of a connecting trail would be to allow residents to walk or bike safely from one nexus to the other without fear of the heavy traffic that can make Route 73 feel unsafe.
On Wednesday, September 4, Mr. Moore welcomed Brandon residents to the Brandon Town Hall for the first “public concerns” meeting regarding the project. Brandon has committed $10K from its 1% local option tax fund to match a $40K grant from VTrans for a scoping study to determine the feasibility of such a trail. No commitments have been made by the town to the construction of a path. The scoping study will allow the town and its residents to determine whether they want to proceed with the plan.
Project Engineer Jenny Austin of Dubois & King led attendees through a slide presentation that outlined the process of the study. Steffanie Bourque of the Rutland Regional Planning Commission, who will be acting as the Municipal Project Manager, was present as well.
The process began with the formation of a four-person steering committee consisting of Mr. Moore, Highway Department Foreman Jeremy Disorda, Jim Leary, and Liz Gregorek.
That group and Ms. Austin studied the existing conditions of the landscape between downtown Brandon and Forest Dale to determine where it would make most sense to lay a path, noting existing roads, wetlands and other environmentally sensitive areas, spots of rock or ledge, and flood plains.
Ms. Austin showed a map of proposed routes, some of which followed existing roads and some of which would require cooperation with private landowners. According to Ms. Austin, the constructed path would be 8 to 10 feet wide and surfaced with a material that would allow easy walking and bicycling and would be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Along existing roadways, it would function almost as a sidewalk.
Attendees at the presentation seemed inclined to seek routes that steered clear of Route 73, following less-traveled roadways such as Town Farm Road. No route has been adopted at this point.
In fact, Mr. Moore has made the presentation and maps available on the town website (under News & Notices). Residents are encouraged to print out the map, mark out preferred routes, and submit the recommendations to Mr. Moore at the Town Office.
No deadline has been set and no additional public meetings have been scheduled.
