Springfield blasts I-91 ramp plan

The Agency of Transportation’s design to improve safety on the southbound off-ramp at Exit 7 of Interstate 91 is making things worse, not better, according to the Springfield Select Board.

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Springfield blasts I-91 ramp plan Rutland Herald | March 16, 2017 By SUSAN SMALLHEER STAFF WRITER SPRINGFIELD — The Agency of Transportation’s design to improve safety on the southbound off-ramp at Exit 7 of Interstate 91 is making things worse, not better, according to the Springfield Select Board. Board members agreed Monday night to send a letter of protest to Gov. Phil Scott, the AOT and the town’s legislative leaders to try and get the state’s engineers to reverse their decision. At issue is a redesign of the off-ramp, and in particular a decision to funnel all traffic through a 90-degree turn and stop sign. Currently, motorists coming off the interstate via the southbound lane can merge with traffic headed west on Route 11 and 5 via a “slip ramp,” which was recently changed from a merge option to a stop sign. But that option will be eliminated under the new plan. Selectman Walter Martone said the state’s actions didn’t make sense: It was funneling all traffic through an intersection that had many accidents, and away from an intersection that had only one accident. He called the state decision “unwise.” He said the new alignment would “create mass confusion” at the busy road. The letter will say that the town is opposed to barricading the end of the slip ramp, and will emphasize the state’s own accident data that shows the real trouble spot is the very location where the state wants to funnel all exiting traffic. “It will create more difficulty,” Martone said. Martone urged his fellow board members to write a letter of protest in hopes of derailing the renovations to the intersection this summer. The AOT held a hearing in Springfield last month; but conceded it occurred after the design was already decided. The agency reassured the board at the time that it would take local concerns into consideration with the help of the subcontractor. Martone, who spent his professional career in California heading up a large public works agency before moving to Springfield, said the changes were wrongheaded and would lead to more accidents, not fewer. The agency, in communication with Town Manager Tom Yennerell, said it would block off the rest of the slip lane with temporary barriers. If the new design doesn’t work, the old slip lane can easily be restored. The Select Board unanimously agreed to contact Scott, as well as the agency and Windsor County’s three state senators and the town’ s two state representatives. An additional criticism was the new 90- degree turn would make it difficult for large truck traffic to exit at the off-ramp to get to a busy 24-hour truck stop.