Four
Chittenden County communities where the Circumferential Highway would have been built are banding together to
preserve the road’s funding for other projects.
Governor Peter Shumlin has cancelled plans for the Circumferential Highway, saying its not the best project for solving the problems of the 21st century.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency has come out against a new plan for
the Chittenden
County Circumferential Highway. The EPA says the redesigned roadway would cause
unacceptable damage to wetlands and streams.
A federal agency has endorsed an idea for a scaled-back "boulevard" in
place of
the long-planned Circumferential
Highway
through the towns around Burlington. But environmental leaders say the road is still a bad
idea and should be scrapped.
The
state Transportation Agency is changing the design of the Circumferential Highway in an effort to win approval from federal agencies. Officials
have re-designed the roadway to avoid destroying some wetlands. The change came
after the Environmental Protection Agency opposed the original plan for a
limited access highway.