2021 Update #1

Looking Ahead

It’s been a month now since construction halted for the winter, but March and the resumption of work for the final few months of Middlebury’s downtown project—the project’s contractual end date is Tuesday, August 17—are just around the corner.

With that in mind, I thought we could briefly look ahead at some of the activities I’ll be covering in our community updates this year.

First and foremost is the completion of our two new public parks in central downtown.

As shown in the rendering above, a much-expanded Triangle Park—now four times its former size—will combine granite paving stones, a fully refurbished historic fountain, our historic ashlar blocks salvaged from the rail corridor, and landscaping to create a restful space at the corner of Main and Merchants that can accommodate public events.

Across the street, the all-new Lazarus Park located alongside the rail line in Printer’s Alley will be the highlight of the rebuilt gateway between Main Street and the Marble Works. As shown in the following rendering, Lazarus Park will incorporate an ADA-accessible walkway and a paving stone labyrinth funded by the congregation of St. Stephen’s.

Remember the one-way road leading from Main Street into the Marble Works? That disappeared in Summer 2017 with the arrival of the temporary bridges but will make its return as the project nears completion this summer.

Further north, at the back entrance to the Marble Works, construction of the Amtrak rail platform and a landscaped parking area is scheduled to get underway this Spring and I’ll be bringing you those details as well.

Finally, in what we might see as icing on the cake, VTrans plans to repave sections of Route 7, Route 30, and Route 125 in Middlebury—eliminating the “tire grooves” on Route 7 south of Court Square—between May and October this year so I’ll be reporting on the specifics of that project, too.

I regularly walk the downtown construction area to make sure the chain-link fences are still in place and there are no safety issues but if you see something that concerns you, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

That’s all for today. See you downtown.

Please keep your comments and questions coming. Send me an email at jgish@townofmiddlebury.org and I’ll try to cover it in my next update.